Lakhs of devotees from different states of India during the month-long Shravani Mela visit the historic Shiva temple at Tarakeswar, West Bengal and Baba Baidyanath Dham at Deoghar in Jharkhand.
The state and district administration in West Bengal have taken steps to organize the Shravani Mela in the most systematic manner. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has issued specific directives to the district administration to conduct the Shravani Mela in the most orderly manner.
The Jharkhand chief minister, Hemant Soren has also taken appropriate measures to ensure law and order during the Shravani Mela.
Jharkhand’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey has taken steps to take care of the devotees during their visit and stay at Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar.
A high-level meeting was first conducted at district magistrate’s office and later at Biswanath Seva Samity, Haripal. Two ministers, Beccharam Manna and Snehasis Chakraborty, MLAs Dr Karabi Manna, and Ramendhu Singha Roy, Rural police district superintendent of police Kamanasish Sen and higher officials of other concerned departments, 40 representatives of social welfare organizations and some local people from Seoraphuli, Baidyabati and Tarakeswar were also present at the meeting.
Mr Manna said to keep control over the movement of sea of devotees from Seoraphuli river ghats to Tarakeswar Shiva temple, monitoring will be done with the help of CCTV cameras. All along the stretch of road from Baidyabati to Tarakeswar, assistance camps will be set up. Police personnel and medical team will provide assistance to devotees 24×7. The civic bodies and panchayats will take care of the lighting system, drinking water, bio-toilets and cleanliness, under the Mission Nirmal Bangla.
For the safety of devotees on river ghats at Baidyabati, the irrigation department is putting up safety nets to prevent devotees from being carried away by swift water currents. The PWD department is repairing the broken parts of the river ghats and the entire stretch of roads from Baidyabati to Tarakeswar. The electricity department will ensure that electric poles are fault-free to stop short circuit and electrocution incidents.
Mr Manna added the railways has been asked to clear all the construction material from the Tarakeswar railway station surrounding area. The Eastern Railway GM has been requested to increase frequency of local trains at an interval of 20 minutes, since every hour, 15,000 devotees use Tarakeswar railway station.
Minister Snehasis Chakraborty has ensured 50 state buses to ply from Satragachi, Bally Halt station, Burdwan and Kolkata (Dharmatala) to and from Tarakeswar.