At a time when much of Delhi is plagued by perennial waterlogging, a second spectre has worsened the plight of residents generally and motorists in particular – a massive increase in the number of Kanwar Yatra participants crossing the Capital over the past few days.
Trucks carrying boomboxes along kanwar routes. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)
With agencies unwilling to act against them, hundreds of pilgrims have taken over several critical roads and junctions across the city, blaring deafening music from giant boomboxes installed on trucks, which sometimes ply on the wrong side, even during the dead of night, and disrupting the lives of millions who live or commute along the Yatra routes in east, southeast, and south Delhi.
The mess is unlikely to get any better until the weekend, with more kanwariyas expected to enter Delhi till Friday, when the 12-day pilgrimage wraps up.
Representatives of resident welfare associations said people have repeatedly complained about the menace for several years, but have now given up hope on authorities taking any action against the annual pandemonium.
“It’s wrong to say that we do not take action against unruly participants of the Kanwar Yatra. We stop vehicles fitted with boomboxes and ask kanwariyas to lower the volume. Sometimes, we even snap the wires of their sound system,” said a senior police officer who asked not to be named.
Read more: Ghaziabad police suspect a single gang to be behind Kanwariya violence
The large influx of kanwariyas – travelling on foot, motorcycles, or in auto-rickshaws, cars, and trucks, and accompanied by “volunteers” armed with sticks and rods who are often seen threatening motorists – has disrupted traffic, leading to serpentine snarls in several parts of the city, especially during the morning and evening rush hours.
Commuters are now caught in a double whammy — potholed, inundated roads on one hand and unruly kanwariyas on the other.
And the police are not to be seen.
Not that the rare police person around does what needs to be done.
“Even police personnel on the roads hardly do anything to clear the jams,” said Shashi Pandey, a resident of Patparganj.
Commuters across the city complained of bumper-to-bumper traffic on key stretches, including Outer Ring Road, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Delhi-Noida Direct flyway, Mathura Road, Kalindi Kunj-Jasola Vihar Road, GT Karnal Road between Apsara border and Kashmere Gate, among others, despite police setting up traffic diversions and restrictions on routes used by kanwariyas.
Read more: Now, Kanwariyas ransack liquor shops, beat up transgenders
“It usually takes me 50 minutes to reach work in Lajpat Nagar from my house in Indirapuram. But over the last two-three days, the travel time has increased by 20-30 minutes because of the high volume of traffic along the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. There are five-six Kanwar camps on the route. The kanwariyas sit on the roadside or park their vehicles, narrowing the driving space for others, causing long traffic jams. The traffic police should ensure the road is not encroached outside such camps,” said Shailendra Mishra, an accountant.
Similar encroachments dot Delhi’s Outer Ring Road.
No peace, no quiet
People living in housing societies along kanwar routes complain that the blaring music means they don’t get a moment of peace for several days and nights. The worst-hit are senior citizens, infants, school-going children, and those with heart and high blood pressure ailments.
They said the loud music rattles their doors and windows.
“This problem aggravates during the night as many such vehicles pass through the highway. The sound of the boomboxes wakes us up the moment the religious procession passes by our flat,” said Anurag Kashyap, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase 2.
Worse, in a brazen show of strength, many kanwar trucks insist on driving through residential colonies .
Triveni Mahajan, secretary of the Friends Colony RWA, said the city’s extant noise pollution norms are no hindrance for kanwariyas.
“Residents of Friends Colony and Maharani Bagh are facing a significant issue with loud music from trucks and tempos loaded with boom boxes passing by on the Mathura Road and the Ring Road, especially during late-night hours. This situation is particularly frustrating as the relevant regulations aren’t being enforced and no local body is taking any proactive steps to check them or get involved,” he said.
Mahajan added, “The music is detrimental to the health and well-being of residents, especially senior citizens and people with heart disease.”
Kanwariyas disagree.
“How do our music systems disturb people? We only play devotional songs on the music system while on the move. We travel a long distance carrying holy Ganga water from Haridwar to our home. The journey is tough and full of difficulties and pain. The music played on the boomboxes gives us a kick. We dance to the tune of the songs and forget our pain,” said Gautam Kataria, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana.
Lalta Prasad Shrivastava, RWA president of Priyadarshini Apartments in IP Extension (Patparganj), blamed authorities for the nuisance .
“We have almost given up. The matter was brought to the attention of the police several times in the past three-four years. But when nothing happened, we had no option but to accept this nuisance as an annual disturbance,” said Shrivastava.
Regarding residents’ complaints, at least two police officers, who wished to remain anonymous, said preventive measures are being taken to address the nuisance.
Police said kanwariyas have resorted to violence on a slew of occasions.
“A few days ago, two incidents were reported in Uttar Pradesh, where kanwariyas damaged two separate vehicles over a minor accident. On Friday (August 1), some kanwariyas blocked a road in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden following damage to the wheel of the vehicle on which kanwar was being carried,” said a second police officer who asked not to be named.
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Apoorva Gupta said, “Because stopping vehicles playing loud music on boomboxes on the spot has become difficult for multiple reasons, we have started taking pictures of such vehicles and their registration number plates. We will issue them fines for violating the rules.”
“We are aware of the situation and have now decided to increase the deployment of police personnel at border points connecting UP to ensure vehicles playing loud music are not allowed to enter the city,” said additional commissioner of police (eastern range) Sagar Singh Kalsi.
The effectiveness of these measures listed by Kalsi were evident on Thursday during the evening peak hour on Outer Ring Road, when a large, slow-moving kanwar truck, blasting loud music made its way through the choked arterial thoroughfare.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.