E-Paper
Highways in Haryana chock-a-block due to Kanwariyas’ movement
Kanwariyas, who are devotees of Lord Shiva, undertake the journey every year to bring Ganga water from Haridwar to their native place. To facilitate the Kanwariyas, many of who are on foot, cars, trucks, tractor-trailers, bikes, and bicycles, special camps have also been set up on route to provide them refreshments. This is further hampering the smooth flow of traffic on highways of Haryana and other places
With the annual pilgrimage of Kanwariyas underway, highways in northern parts of Haryana have been chock-a-block for the past few days.
The Kanwariyas, who are devotees of Lord Shiva, undertake the journey every year to bring Ganga water from Haridwar to their native place.
To facilitate the Kanwariyas, many of who are on foot, cars, trucks, tractor-trailers, bikes, and bicycles, special camps have also been set up on route to provide them refreshments. This is further hampering the smooth flow of traffic.
Punna Ram, a shopkeeper in Ladwa of Kurukshetra district, said, “I have never seen such a huge crowd in my life. We have not been getting any customer for the past couple of days due to the traffic jam on roads.”
A driver of a schoolbus said, “We have been facing a lot of problems for the past couple of days as we have to pick and drop children on schedule. Due to the rush of Kanwariyas, sometimes children reach home late.”
Though traffic diversions have been created at several places, and cops deployed to avoid any untoward incident, incidents of violence have been reported from some places.
Near Radaur of Yamunanagar, angry Kanwariyas set a car on fire after it four them, leaving three hospitalised. The car driver managed to save his life by fleeing the spot on foot.
In Kaithal, one Kanwariya died and five sustained critical injuries when a truck hit their vehicle on Saturday morning.
To provide help in case of emergency, the administration has taken details of all Kanwriyas undertaking the journey through online registration.
Besides, special check posts have been set up on route and cops are monitoring the movement through closed-circuit television cameras and drones.
Ladwa deputy superintendent Jai Singh said, “Since most devotees from Haryana and Punjab are traveling via the Yamuananagar-Kurukshetra highway, our main focus is on this route. We have made all arrangements to ensure smooth movement of traffic and Kanwariyas.”
Kurukshetra superintendent of police Anshu Singla said, “We have issued special instructions to cops on duty to keep strict vigil and ensure that Kanwariyas and commuters don’t face any problem,”
“I myself make three visits every day to monitor the police deployment, check posts, diversion posts and Shivirs (camps), she added.
