Police officials carpool to inspect Simhastha sites in Ujjain

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s appeal to bureaucrats to practice carpooling and reduce pollution seems to be going down well as state director general of police Surendra Sinh along with seniors cops took a minibus to visit different Simhastha fair spots in Ujjain on Tuesday.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s appeal to bureaucrats to practice carpooling and reduce pollution seems to be going down well as state director general of police (DGP) Surendra Sinh along with seniors cops took a minibus to visit different Simhastha fair spots in Ujjain on Tuesday.

The Simhastha fair will be held in April. (HT file photo)

The fair will be held in April.

Only three vehicles were used in total for the purpose. In the past, the cavalcade usually had 10-12 vehicles.

Sinh inspected outer roads, satellite town spots and different ghats of River Kshipra and reviewed the crowd management plan.

Additional director general of police (Simhastha) SL Thousen, Zone IG V Madhukumar, deputy inspector general of police Rakesh Gupta, SP MS Verma and others were present.

The inspector general of police told HT that the DGP was informed about the plan prepared for entry and exit at Kshipra and inner traffic plans.

Temporary permits to around 450 minibuses were being given to run on inner roads whereas battery-operated rickshaws would be provided for elderly and Divyang (disabled) people.

Kumar claimed that the police would use latest means of communication and surveillance to regulate crowd flow.

According to sources, issue of security, particularly in light of recent arrest of suspected SIMI men from Ujjain, was also discussed.

Kumar said a common vehicle was used by him and his officials to reach the spot as it would help conserve fuel and important issues were also discussed in the bus itself.