By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 17 Jun: With the successful conduct of Baba Neem Karoli’s 60th birth-anniversary function in Kainchi Dham, the government has sent out a message of smooth, safe and well-organised Yatra in the state. Official sources claim that, for the first time, the government has set an example of good management when a record more than two and a half lakh devotees reached the festival at Kainchi Dham and this included “excellent management” of all the arrangements from darshan to ensuring to the devotees all necessary facilities.
This year, the Kainchi Dham Mahotsav organised on the birth anniversary of Baba Neem Karoli (also called Neeb Karori) has broken all previous records, from the crowd of devotees gathered for darshan to the arrangements. Especially in view of the crowd gathering from the country and abroad in the Yatra, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami himself was present to monitor the arrangements. As a result, despite the record crowd, every devotee had smooth darshan of the Baba and returned with a safe journey. The government had prepared a concrete plan this time in view of the chaos that happened in the past years during the festival.
For this, 22 magistrates were given responsibility for 49 different arrangements in the 45 km stretch from Haldwani to Kainchi Dham. About 460 buses and taxi shuttle services were pressed into service for the devotees coming to Kainchi Dham Darshan from Haldwani bus stand and railway station. The fare for this was also fixed at Rs 100 per passenger. This did not cause any inconvenience to the devotees. Along with this, small and big parking sites were made at 24 places from Haldwani, Bhawali, Bhimtal to Kainchi Dham. Devotees were made to move through safe paths to walk from these parking lots to Kainchi Dham. During this, 7 water tankers, 6 mobile toilets, medical teams and other necessary arrangements were made for the convenience of the devotees. This was the reason that for the first time, despite the gathering of a record crowd of devotees, management of the government remained efficient throughout. While the movement of people from Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh and Nainital districts from Kainchi Dham was also made safe through highways and alternate routes, everyone has praised the travel management by the government, claim the official sources.
For the first time in Kainchidham Mahotsav, SDRF and NDRF were also kept on alert. Apart from this, Forest Department and Fire Department were also deployed. Especially in view of the possibilities of fire or accident in the forests due to severe heat, all the teams were active. Its monitoring was also being done continuously. Especially on the routes through pine and other forests, mobile teams were patrolling.
