E-Paper
Ensure smooth traffic flow during Eid: IG Meerut to dist police chiefs
Meerut range IG Alok Singh has issued instructions to SSPs in the six districts of the zone to ensure strictly that there is no hindrance to traffic movement during
Meerut range IG Alok Singh has issued instructions to SSPs in the six districts of the zone to ensure strictly that there is no hindrance to traffic movement during namaz on Eid-ul-Zuha. Singh has also directed officials to beef up security arrangements during namaz.
He said that roads are built for traffic movement and nobody should block them without a genuine reason and without seeking prior permission. He said that instructions have been issued to all district police chiefs of the zone (Noida, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bullandshahar, Bagpat and Meerut).
There are many mosques situated on the roadside in all the districts of the zone and while offering namaz on Friday and during festivals like Eid, these mosques get overcrowded and people encroach on the road to perform namaz, which hinders traffic movement.
SSP Meerut Ajay Kumar Sahni has issued notices to mosque officials to ensure that roads are not blocked during namaz otherwise stern action will be initiated on charges of blocking traffic. Police have identified at least three mosques in the city where people encroach roads because of overcrowding during namaz.
IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said, “There is no blanket order concerning people of a particular community preventing them from encroaching roads on Eid. However, the local police administration may take measures locally to ensure proper flow of traffic in their respective areas, but such measures are for everyone.”
Meanwhile, a delegation of Muslims led by nayab shahar kazi Zainur Rasheedin called on district authorities in this regard but they refused to rethink the decision. The nayab kazi said that a consequent meeting was held with officials of different mosques in this regard and it was decided to follow the orders of the authorities. “Mosque officials will ensure that at the most people can use the pavement to offer namaz but not the road proper,” he said, adding, “we are law abiding people and will comply with the orders of the authorities”.
Describing the warning of the SSP unfortunate, Milli Council district president Kari Shafiqur Rehman explained that Muslims use roads only in case when mosques get overcrowded, otherwise, they offer namaz inside the mosque or on rooftops.
Meerut shahar kazi Zainus Sajeedin clarified that Muslim don’t occupy roads for daily namaz. It happens only at some mosques when there are more people than the mosque can accommodate, and outside Idgah, only twice a year, during Eid. He hoped that the namaz will be offered peacefully as namazis are law abiding people.
A Muslim cleric, on conditions of anonymity, said, “If hindrance to traffic movement during namaz was a worry for officials, then why do they block the national highway for a week for kanwar yatra and also showers petals on kanwarias”?
