Every year, Kanwar yatra – a 13-day long sacred tradition is celebrated in the Shravan month. Although it makes the police, administration, health department, municipality, and other related departments, to get on their toes, yet each year we witness hooliganism, turmoil, and stampedes in the name of religion.
The journey from Delhi to Haridwar carries a sacred essence in the minds of devotees. But a recent news report displayed how Kanwariyas turned violent in Delhi’s Moti Nagar and smashed cars and other vehicles. The Twitter users slammed up this event with various reactions blaming the administration, and cribbing how people misuse the Religion.
We are right in blaming the administration but in a country like India with a galore of the population, it is a big issue to control the 3 crores people which come onto the roads. Managing people which come together from different strata of the society in terms of hygiene, food, road safety, and noise.
The hygiene turns out to be a big muddle for the administration because providing toilet facilities to a huge number is against the number of funds. Thus, foul smell throughout the highways and near shivirs makes the living conditions for normal people next to a nightmare. This journey turns more horrid for the local residents when the DJ becomes a nuisance for those who live near the route from Delhi to Haridwar. Although this year the authorities have declared many directions for the kanwariyas to follow, they hardly ever accept such rules. Police and administration always try their best to control the situations like drowning in the Ganga waters, the stampede that takes place with such bulk of people on road and daak kanwars who ride bikes at high speed intoxicated with bhang and lead to accidents
In my opinion, we cannot blame the administration completely nor can blame the religious feeling of the yatris, but the entire problem lies in the management which can be made better at both the end. People should carry their identities and try to portray a safe version of this journey rather than causing havoc in all areas the yatra travels through.
