Over 15k kanwariyas returned from border
HARIDWAR: Over 15,500 kanwariyas, who were coming to Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar to fetch Ganga water, have been sent back from the Uttarakhand border with Uttar Pradesh in the past one week, police said.
Kanwar yatra period started on July 25 and will continue till August 6. The Uttarakhand government cancelled the kanwar pilgrimage for the second consecutive year owing to Covid-19 threat.
“Round-the-clock checking of vehicles is being carried out at border posts to ensure that no kanwariya arrives in Haridwar,” said D Senthil Aboodai Krishan, senior superintendent of district police.
“Cases are being lodged against kanwariyas found violating norms or forcefully carrying out yatra. Kanwariyas entering Haridwar by train or bus are being put in quarantine facility. Most of the kanmwariyas are being sent back from border posts.”
Any kanwariya found entering Haridwar illegally is being put under 14-day quarantine in a 200-bed facility at Prem Nagar ashram.
Thirty cases have been lodged at various police stations against 54 people under the Disaster Management Act and Epidemics Act during the past one week, Krishan said. “In the same period, 1,161 people have been fined for violating social distancing norms and 33 for not wearing masks.”
The 10 border check posts where police have been deployed are Chidiyapur-Shyampur, Narsain, Mandawar, Kali Nadi, Tejjupur, Gokalpur, Beerpur, Purkaji barrier, Balawali Laksar and Dallawala.
In 2019, the yatra had attracted 36 million pilgrims. During Kanwar yatra, Shiva devotees walk hundreds of kilometres to fetch water from the Ganga and carry it back to their villages. On July 6, the state decided to stop all kanwar devotees from entering the state..