Dehradun: For a safe, smooth and well-organized Chardham Yatra, all arrangements should be ensured one week before the start of the journey. Parking arrangements should be made on the travel routes at such places near which hotels, dharamshalas, homestays and other basic facilities are available. The slot management system should be further improved for visiting the Dhams. Adequate arrangements of CCTV cameras should be made at sensitive places on the travel routes. Real time monitoring of high traffic areas should be done. These instructions were given by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami during the traffic management meeting in view of the preparations for the Chardham Yatra at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister said that the police should work with a better plan to face the challenges of traffic management during the Chardham Yatra. It should be ensured that the problems faced last year in travel management are not repeated. Real time information of places with jam situation should be shared on social media and other mediums. Traffic and weather information should be regularly updated on the social media handles of the police and the administration. Arrangements should be made so that devotees can get information about parking places on the travel routes from Google Map.
The Chief Minister has appealed to the devotees to come to Uttarakhand’s Chardham Yatra only after registering, registration arrangements have been made for the safety and convenience of the devotees. 60 percent online and 40 percent offline registration has been arranged for the Chardham Yatra. For well-organized travel operations, continuous coordination should be made with all the stakeholders related to the travel routes and their suggestions should be taken seriously. Information about the preparations made by the government for the Chardham Yatra should also be shared with the stakeholders. He directed the officials to strengthen the alternative routes for the Chardham Yatra. Local people should also be contacted on payment basis to develop temporary parking on the travel routes.
The Chief Minister said that police help desks should be set up on the travel route for the convenience of the devotees. Disaster prone areas and high altitude areas on the travel routes should be monitored with the help of drone cameras and adequate arrangements of necessary equipment should be made at disaster sensitive places. Crash barriers should be installed on the travel routes as per requirement. Intensive checking of vehicles should be conducted by the police and transport department and special attention should be paid to the fitness of vehicles. Adequate arrangements of signage should be made for various information on the travel routes.
DGP Deepam Seth gave detailed information about the preparations made for the Chardham Yatra. He said that last year about 48 lakh devotees traveled safely. For this year’s safe and systematic journey, there will be 50 police stations, 79 reporting police posts, 5850 police force, 38 seasonal (temporary) posts. Three plans have been prepared for better traffic management, which will be implemented in view of the pressure of vehicles and traffic jams. Chardham Control Room has been established under the Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Range, whose in-charge will be SP Traffic Dehradun Lokjeet Singh. Chardham Cell will be formed at the Police Headquarters level under the Inspector General of Police Crime and Law and Order, which will make arrangements for continuous control and monitoring. The entire Yatra route has been divided into 15 super zones, 41 zones and 137 sectors. Along with the Chardham Yatra, a detailed traffic plan has been prepared for the long weekend as well.
The DGP informed that the police department has identified 54 bottlenecks, 198 accident prone areas, 49 black spots and 66 land sliding areas on the Chardham Yatra route. In which all the measures will be taken by the concerned department before the Yatra. Last year 113 parking places were identified in which there was provision for 33295 small and 3554 big vehicles. This year 17 more parking places have been identified. In total 130 identified parking places, there will be provision for parking of 43416 small and 7855 big vehicles.
Vice Chairman Infrastructure Monitoring Council Vishwas Dabur, Secretary Shailesh Bagoli, Nitesh Jha, Sachin Kurve, Dr. BVR Purushottam, Dr. Pankaj Pandey, Brijesh Kumar Sant, Secretary and Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey, ADG V Murugeshan, AP Anshuman, IG Garhwal Rajiv Swaroop, IG Nilesh Anand Bharane and concerned officers were present in the meeting.
