Kanwar Yatra 2011

To host Kanwar yatra 2011 peacefully is a real challenge for the administration:

By P.S. Chauhan

Kanwar Mela, the biggest religious gathering in north India, only next to the Kumbh, is giving sleepless nights to the police and the civil officials. The mela, also known as the Kanwar Teerth Yatra, begins on the first day of the month of Savan of the Hindu calendar, which this year falls on July 16. During the mela duration lakhs of saffron clad kanwarias wend their way to Haridwar to take the holy Ganga jal in vessels kept in decorated bamboo structures called 'kanwars'. Last year, nearly 90 lakh kanwarias, mostly from Uttarakhand, western U.P., Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, congregated in Haridwar on the holy mission. This year the number of the kanwarias coming to the city is likely to cross the 1 crore mark.

The hosting of the such colossal event has always been a formidable challenge. For the hosting of the Kumbh, the state and the central governments make huge budgetary allocations to create adequate infrastructure and for security arrangements. However, the preparations for the Kanwar Mela are not backed up by such sufficient financial assistance and the district administration has to manage the mega cultural event with its own meagre resources.

"Security of mammoth gatherings of the kanwarias is the foremost concern of the administration," says the SSP, Kewal Khurana. The commissioner of Garhwal division, Ajay Nambyal held a meeting of the top civil and police officials of the adjoining districts of Uttarakhand, western U.P., Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to chalk out a strategy for the smooth conduct of the teerth yatra. The officials of all the five states, through which the Kanwar Yatra passes, emphasized on better co-ordination between the different departments and the different states and also on sharing of intelligence inputs to thwart all sorts of violence during the yatra.

Major part of the police force from all the districts of the state is to be requisitioned for the Kanwar Mela. "Besides this, 12 companies of the P.A.C., Rapid Action Force, The bomb disposal squads, units of divers and sniffer dogs are also being deployed in the mela area", says the S.S.P.. Though as yet there is no intelligence input about any terror threat in the Kanwar Mela, the police administration is taking no chance and is fully vigilant that no terrorist, in the garb of a kanwaria, infiltrates in the teerth yatra. For the first time this year CCTV cameras will be installed at 10 sensitive points on the Kanwar route in the district. Also for the first time, the administration is putting in place public address system, as is used in the Kumbh, and loud speakers are being installed at 50 demarcated places on the Kanwar route from Har-Ki-Pauri to Manglaur to flash any necessary information for the public, the kanwarias and the police. For management of the mela, the entire mela area has been divided into 4 super zones, 19 zones and 75 sectors.

The administration has also decided to take the Kanwar yatra along the road on the bank of the Ganga canal upto Muzaffarnagar so that the Haridwar Delhi National highway in this region remains open for the normal traffic for most of the yatra days.

K.L. Shah, the SP city and in-charge of the Kanwar Mela cell says that it has been decided not to allow the kanwarias to fit DJs and high volume music systems in their vehicles and that the kanwarias will also not be allowed to carry sticks, baseballs and bats etc. The administration has also taken steps to ban the sale of narcotics, liquor and non vegetarian foods on the yatra route. The city magistrate, Arvind Pandey told Haridwar Plus that the shopkeepers , the hoteliers and the proprietors of the dhabas have been instructed to display rate list of various commodities to avoid clashes between the business community and the kanwarias. "We have also instructed the hoteliers and the proprietors of the dhabas that all the food items should be neat and clean and their quality should be maintained", said the city magistrate. "To provide primary medical services to the kanwarias primary medical centers are being set up at 19 identified places", says Suresh Aggarwal, the deputy C.M.O. and Kanwar mela incharge for the health services.

This year the kanwarias will not be allowed to go upto Gomukh, the origin of the Ganga, since the 135 km. stretch from Gomukh to Uttarkashi has been declared an eco sensitive zone by the union ministry of forests and environment. The acting district magistrate, Harish Chand Semwal said that their main objective was to ensure a safe & smooth yatra & to provide maximum facilities to the kanwarias with least inconvenience to the locals.

23 pilgrims killed as truck falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

Twenty—three people, mostly from two Haryana villages, were today killed when a truck ferrying ’Kanwarias’ (Shiva devotees) fell into a gorge in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The truck, which was on its on way to Gangotri, fell into the 150—metre deep gorge killing 23 people, including the driver and the cleaner, at Dabrani on Rishikesh—Gangotri national highway about 70 kms from here, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Saurabh Jain told. 21 bodies of youths have been fished out by the police and ITBP personnel and they have been sent for a post mortem, he said, adding efforts are on to extricate two more bodies from the accident site. A pall of gloom descended on villages of Baghanki and Kherki in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, from where nearly all the youths killed belonged. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. The Haryana Government announced an exgratia of Rs two lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed deep shock and grief over the deaths and said that his government was in touch with the administration of Uttarkashi to bring back the bodies. Gurgaon district administration has sent of a team of officers led by Tehsildar Manesar KS Dhaka to assist the family members and villagers who have rushed to Uttarkashi, according to the Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria. A group of 29 youths from the two villages had gone on the pilgrimage, district officials said, adding efforts were on to identify those missing.

Heavy rains and floods over the last two days have left six others dead and thrown life out of gear in Uttarakhand. Several important roads were washed away in the heavy floods due to which a large number of villages were cut off. A vital stretch of Raipur-Chamba road was also washed away due to heavy floods in the river Song in Dehra Dun, where large areas have been inundated leading to loss of property after last night’s torrential rains that broke a 44—year record. Meanwhile, two ‘Kanwarias’ from Uttar Pradesh were today killed while another was injured when a motorcycle on which they were riding collided with a bus at Jwalapur area of Haridwar district, 47 km from here. The incident took place when the motorcycle collided head on with the bus killing Raju (20), a resident of Ghaziabad and Bablu (22), a resident of Meerut on the spot, police said. Another person identified as Deepak was also injured in the accident and he has been admitted to a nearby hospital, they said.

2010: A Kanwar story

Each year with Kanwar mela comes numerous opportunities and challenges, Reports P.S. Chauhan:

With the Kanwar Teerth Yatra at its peak, all the highways and link roads to and fro present a kaleidoscope of interminable rows of the saffron clad Shiva devotees. Popularly called Kanwarias, carrying decorated kanwars (bamboo structures), containing vessels full of Ganga jal and reverberating the air with the chants of 'Bum Bum Bhole', interspersed with their folk songs and jingling of bells tied in their feet. Indeed Kanwar mela yatra is a sight to behold. This year nearly 80 lakh kanwarias are likely to congregate at Haridwar during the two-week long Kanwar Mela. It is really a grand spectacle of the manifestation of faith , as Shiva devotees, including men, women , yung and children, march on foot, braving all the vagaries of weather, with Ganga jal with which they will anoint the Lord in the temples of their respective regions on the auspicious day of Shiv Chaudas which this year falls on August 8.

Due to the swelling numbers of Kanwarias it is becoming a formidable challenge for the police and the civil administration to hold this mela. During recent years rowdy elements have also started infiltrating the Kanwar Teerth Yatra, making it highly prone to violence. In view of the increasing threat to the religious gatherings by the terrorist groups, the security aspect has become a matter of concern. "We have made highly elaborate security arrangements to avert any possible untoward incident during the Kanwar Yatra. Nearly 4,000 security personnel, including personnel from civil police, PAC, RAF, the bomb disposal squads, the units of sniffer dogs and divers, have been deployed on all the routes. CCTV have been installed at all the sensitive points and police men in the garb of kanwarias will keep a tab on anti-social elements," says the SSP, Sanjay Gunjyal.

During Kanwar Teerth Yatra the normal life in the city is thrown out of gear, as all the streets in the city virtually remain under the siege of the kanwarias. It also exerts tremendous pressure on the infrastructure. Also police and the officials of almost all other departments are posted on Kanwar Mela duty. "Since most of the officials are deployed on Kanwar Mela duty, they cannot perform their normal duties and to some extent, the public has to suffer some inconvenience," the district magistrate, Dr. R. Meenakshi Sundram frankly admits.

Opportunities

Kanwar Teerth Yatra is a big opportunity. The business community has a boom time during the yatra. The shopkeepers, the hoteliers, the proprietors of the dharamshalas, restaurants and the dhabas, all have a flourishing business these days. In the city, most of the shopkeepers shut up their main business and start selling the kanwar items such as towels, caps, baniyans, vessels for Ganga jal, rudraksh rosary and gift items. "On an average, a kanwaria spends around Rs.500 during his stay in the city and If 80 lakh kanwaris, which are expected this year, it will generate a whooping amount of Rs.4000 crore for the business community," says Kailash Keshwani, the president of the district Vyapar Mandal. Bottom-line is that each year, in one way or other, entire business community of the region make the most of this famous kanwar fair.

Challenges

Kanwar mela adversely impacts the industrial production also. Since the national highways remain closed during the peak days, the transportation of raw material and the manufactured goods from the industrial units suffers. "As containers cannot pass through the narrow alternative routes, production of the factories is adversely affected and cause loss of about Rs.1 crore/day during the mela," says Harendra Garg, the regional chairman of the Industries Association of Uttarakhand (Garhwal Region). Though this year the national highway within the boundary of state will not be closed for traffic and the kanwarias will be made to pass through along the Ganga canal. But this is not going to fully solve the problem, as UP govt. has not yet agreed to open thse canal foot path for the kanwarias that lies in UP.

Brotherhood

Above all Kanwar Teerth Yatra promotes communal harmony. Yatra passes through many Muslim dominated localities but sans communal tension. Also a bulk of kanwars are prepared by the skilled Muslim workers. The members of the Muslim community from Haridwar region remain engaged for months in making kanwars. Rahman Ali of Bijnor says that his family has been coming to Haridwar for making kanwars for the last five years. "We earn about Rs one lakh every year by selling kanwars," says Ali. Babli, awardee of President's Award for Bravery for Children has been helping her father, Shadi Hussain in making kanwars for the last seven years. "Making kanwars is not only a source of livelihood for my family, but it also gives us satisfaction that we are lending a helping hand for a good cause," says Babli.