The Haridwar Citizen Forum yesterday felicitated District Magistrate (DM) Harbans Singh Chugh and SSP Rajeev Swarup for the peaceful conduct of the Kanwar pilgrimage.
Eminent personalities representing the Ganga Sabha, social organisations, educational institutions, media, political organisations, teerth purohits and industrialists attended the function.
Chugh said, “It is commendable that local people contributed to guiding and managing Kanwariyas, making the job of the mela administration easy. Police constables, paramilitary personnel, administrative officers and workers, who contributed to the Kanwar arrangement and management, is to be credited with the successful completion of the fair. Such a whopping arrival of Kanwariyas, with the last two days witnessing over 50 lakh devotees, was not an easy task to be managed. However, planning, hard work by employees made it happen.”
Meanwhile, SSP Rajeev Swarup said despite less personnel this year, the mela force did a commendable job. Amid cloudbursts and landslides in Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh and Tehri Garhwal, he didn’t seek police personnel of other districts. “Still we ensured this doesn’t affect the functioning and management of the Kanwar fair. I salute security personnel for their efforts,” he said.