Managing kaawad yatra made easier, thanks to app

The ‘Kaawad Yatra Management App’ enables kanwarias with tracking facilities, information on kaawad service camps, police stations, temples and nearest hospitals along their route

NEW DELHI: Each year, as part of the kaawad yatra, devotees across all ages overcome their physical limits, walk thousands of kilometres on foot to Gomukh in the Himalayas, carry the holy water from river Ganga, and offer jalabhishek (water offering) to their revered Lord Shiva.

Along the walk, chants of Bum Bum Bhole and Har Har Mahadev reverbrated in the air.

However, managing the crores of kanwarias, i.e. the kaawad pilgrims, is a mammoth task for law enforcement agencies; not only from Hardiwar, where 95 per cent of kanwarias fill the water from Ganga, but also in places where kanwarias walk barefoot, mainly through the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and others.

To streamline the kaawad yatra, mobile technology will come in handy this year as an IAS officer posted as the district magistrate at Meerut has introduced the ‘Kaawad Yatra Management App’.

Since its launch and successful operation, the app has been lauded by many kanwarias as well as the Uttar Pradesh government, where as many as ten western districts are prominently using the app.

Anil Dhingra, the district magistrate of Meerut, said, “By becoming tech savvy and using technology to monitor the kaawad yatra, management by the government machinery has become easy. We have introduced the ‘Kaawad Yatra Management App’ (KYMA) for the first time, for the entire yatra. This app available in Google Play Store and can be downloaded on Android devices. It enables pilgrims with tracking facilities, information on kaawad service camps, police stations, temples and nearest hospitals along their route.”

Officials said that KYMA has produced promising results in managing the inflow of kanwarias into western UP. At many places, kanwarias have been able to plan their walking schedule by looking at the map on their phones, which shows their location and a ‘red line’ indicating heavy traffic flow.

Moreover, information about the shivirs (camps) established by various organisations, medical clinics, police deployment, ambulances, temples, nearest hospitals and mobile numbers of organisers of the camp along the route, as well of the police check-posts and zonal magistrates employed on duty are stored in the app.

The annual pilgrimage starts during the Hindu calender month of Shravan and will conclude on the fourteenth day of the first fortnight of this month. This year, the jalabhishek was done on Shivratri on August 9, with an estimated three crore kanwarias offering Ganga water to Lord Shiva at various temples.

Dhingra added, “KYMA has been designed in a friendly mode and has been generally helpful and popular with those who are on social media. For the next year, feedback has been taken from users and government officers and suggestions for improving the app are being taken.”

Corroborating the success of the app, Prashant Kumar, additional director general of police, Meerut zone, said, “Human management is always a challenging task, though our forces did excellently well without any mishaps during the ten day congregation in our zone. KYMA was a big help across the board, at least, for the tech savvy cops.