State police have started gearing up for the Mahakumbh-2021 slated in Haridwar with the director general of police Anil K Raturi taking a meeting of the police officers and discussing about how to prepare for the mega religious congregation in the police headquarters in Dehradun on Friday. He said that over four crore people are likely to throng Haridwar during the mela and the police must make fool-proof arrangements to ensure that the congregation passes off sans a glitch. He reminded the officers of the huge turnout during the 2010 mahakumbh in Haridwar. The state police chief stressed on crowd management, traffic management, security arrangement and communication for the fair.
State additional director general of police (law and order) Ashok Kumar said, post-meeting, that police officers concerned have been directed to assess the conditions of the police stations’ buildings. A proposal should come for renovation of such buildings and construction of new buildings in the Kumbh Mela area.
The officers were directed to assess the vacant posts of police personnel in the department so that they can approach the state administration for recruitment.
The police chief asked for renovation of the existing parking areas as well as identification of new parking lots to be set up in Kumbh area. CCTV cameras, drone and other security related equipment should be installed too for kumbh, Raturi said.
A proposal for utilising latest technology related to security, communication and surveillance should be prepared. Proposal should also be drafted for installing CCTV cameras at Muni-ki- Reti, Rishikesh and Lakshman Jhula areas and integrated control room at Ramjhula. Garhwal range DIG should work as mela officer and in coordination with the Garhwal commissioner, they should present their points regarding construction of bridges in Kumbh mela area. A proposal should be sent for building new bridge near Ramjhula so that one way system can be implemented on Ramjhula Bridge. For the roads which are not included in four lane road of Saharanpur-Biharigarh- Haridwar bypass road connecting to Haridwar, a proposal should be sent to state administration.
Police officers were directed to establish coordination with the other department officers to complete the construction works in the Kumbh Mela area.