Prayagraj: Police Commissioner Piyush Modiya, District Magistrate Manish Verma, District Commissioner Police DCP Ajay, City Magistrate, ADM City all circle ACPs, were present in the meeting for the safe conduct of Dussehra Durga Puja organized at the District Panchayat Bhawan. Police station in-charge, Chairman of Peace Committee Chand Miya, Raghunath Dwivedi, Chairman of District Crime Prevention Committee Santosh Srivastava, representing the Durga Puja community in the presence of Raunak Gupta from Civil Defence, the president and secretary of Durga Puja Barwari, councillors, business organizations, and officials from Ram Dal, informed the traffic police administration of the problems. They demanded immediate redressal of these concerns so that the tragic incident that occurred at the Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata does not recur anywhere in Prayagraj.
Discussions, guidance, and advice were exchanged to strengthen the arrangements for complete preparation, alerts, security, CCTV cameras, security guards, exits, entrances, and fire fighting equipment, in coordination with the administration and committees. Lalu Mittal, public relations officer for Bai Ka Baag Durga Puja, demanded the deployment of traffic police and adequate numbers of male and female police personnel. He explained that due to the presence of two Durga Puja pandals – Ram Bagh Barwari and Neta Nagar Durga Puja Committee – at a distance of 50 meters in the Bai Ka Bagh area, the crowd pressure is extremely high. This announcement is continuously made from our puja pandal that one should enter from the entrance and exit from the exit, do not stand at one place, keep moving, yet the khaki uniform has its own aura which cannot be replaced by our volunteers or private security guards.
Lalu Mittal, in front of the Police Commissioner, District Magistrate and all the higher officials, suggested that the route of big vehicles like trucks and roadways buses from GT Road should be diverted from the bridge of Kotha Parcha Dat to the road towards Rambagh Railway Station. This will reduce the traffic pressure from GT Road to Bai ka Bagh Labour Square and the problem of traffic jam will be solved because most of the devotees park their vehicles here. Similarly, on the other hand, the vehicles coming from Baharahana should be diverted from Labour Square to the road towards Rambagh Railway Station.
When the police say this, the general public follows it legally because it creates fear, both among the anarchists and the general public. Present at the meeting were TP Mishra, Executive President of Bai ka Bagh Puja, Ratnesh Pandey, Secretary, and Sunil Singh.
