No cars on NH-58 for 5 days due to Kanwar yatra; people told to take trains

india

Updated: Jul 26, 2019 21:16 IST

With hundreds of Kanwar pilgrims, also known as Kanwarias (Lord Shiva devotees), thronging the National Highway 58 (NH-58) passing through Meerut, the district administration has suspended vehicular movement on the route for five days beginning Friday, said a police official.

“Regular traffic on NH-58 will resume after Sawan Shivratri on July 30. Till then, commuters on Dehradun and Haridwar route will have to take a longer route,” said SP (traffic) Sanjeev Bajpai.

The move, he said, is taken every year to avoid inconvenience to both commuters as well as devotees, who bring holy water of the Ganga from Haridwar, Rishikesh and Gangotri and walk for miles to reach their respective areas to offer ‘Gangajal’ to Lord Shiva.

He said only those vehicles that were required for emergency services, like ambulances, etc, would be allowed to ply on the route on these five days.

Commuters from Delhi have been advised to take the NH-24 to reach Hapur and Bijnor via outer Meerut to reach their destination in Haridwar and Dehradun (NH-58 passes through Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Haridwar).

But the ongoing construction of Delhi-Meerut Expressway near Masuri, Ghaziabad, on NH-24 may prove to be a big bottleneck.

Ajay Kumar, a businessman of Shastri Nagar locality, said my driver arrived in Meerut from Delhi in seven hours on Thursday night. He was stuck in jam for over three hours.

“It is better to avoid commuting on this route till July 30 instead of wasting time and money,” he said.

Also, heavy vehicles, including buses, are forced to ply on longer routes and passengers are made to shell out extra money for tickets.

Additional director general (ADG) of police, (west UP), Prashant Kumar said, “Heavy deployment of police force is regulating the traffic on one of the busiest highways of north India. We are diverting the vehicular traffic at key points,” said Kumar.

Amid terror threats, unprecedented security measures have been taken by the police of several northern Indian states to ensure a peaceful Kanwar Yatra this season.” Drones are being used extensively to monitor the sea of devotees, which is expected to cross four crore.

Last year 3.50 crore devotees of Lord Shiva had thronged to the religious city of Haridwar. “We are expecting the numbers could cross the four crore mark this year. The state police and civil administration are working round the clock to ensure that Yatra passes peacefully,” said Kumar.

Till Thursday night, 1.76 crore devotees had already returned from Haridwar after fetching water from the Holy river.

Talking about traffic diversions, Kumar said as national highways were mainly used by the devotees, vehicular traffic would be passing through the cities and towns. For instance, vehicles going to Delhi from Dehradun would be diverted through the towns of Deoband, Rampur Tiraha, Jansath (in Muzaffarnagar), Mawana and Hapur to reach Delhi.

In its advisory, the police have suggested that trains could be a better substitute for road transport, to travel between Delhi and Dehradun for the next two weeks.

(With agency inputs)