The administration has completed all the necessary arrangements for the annual Kanwar Yatra to be held in Ghaziabad. This journey will last for about two weeks. The traffic police has said that traffic diversions for heavy vehicles (HTV) will come into effect from 10 pm on Friday and will continue till the morning of July 25.
The main Kanwar Yatra route is 25 km long from Muradnagar to Tila Mor and 42.5 km long from Kadarabad border to Delhi-Ghaziabad border. In addition, an alternative route of 53 km on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and NH-9 will also be affected.
According to Additional DCP (Traffic) Sachidanand, the movement of heavy vehicles will be completely stopped on all three major roads from Friday night. These vehicles will be sent to NH-9 via UP Gate and then to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. He also informed that out of 734 traffic policemen, 612 have been specially appointed for the Kanwar Yatra, while the rest of the staff will handle traffic on normal routes, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Around 2,500 police personnel will be deployed for crowd management and 550 officers will be specially present at Dudheshwar Nath temple, where Kanwariyas come to offer Gangajal. 1,657 CCTV cameras have been installed along the entire route, which will be monitored from a centralised control room.
Heavy vehicles entering Ghaziabad from Delhi will be stopped at border points like Loni, Tulsi Niketan, Seemapuri and Anand Vihar and will be diverted from NH-9. There will also be a complete ban on the movement of light vehicles on Kanwar routes from July 17.
District Magistrate Deepak Meena informed that all preparations have been completed. He said that 108 sector magistrates have been deployed to monitor the routes and make arrangements for the facilities of the passengers. Meat shops located on Kanwar routes will be kept closed and liquor shops have been covered. If needed, orders can also be given to close them completely.
The work of repairing roads and covering electric poles with plastic sheets has also been completed to avoid any accident during the rainy season. District Excise Officer Sanjay Singh said that out of the total 450 liquor shops in the district, 165 which are on the Kanwar routes have been completely covered during the journey.
