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Journalism of Courage
As Mumbai continued to be on alert in the wake of cyclone Ockhi and predictions of rain over the next two days, the civic administration and the police have sprung into action to ensure the rain does not become a dampener for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s followers, who started arriving at Dadar’s Shivaji Park since late Monday evening to pay tributes on their leader’s death anniversary Wednesday.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has warned visitors to keep away from the seashore. Additional Commissioner of Police S Jaykumar (central region) said, “We have deployed around 600 policemen for the event. Due to adverse weather, we won’t be able to make use of drones like last year. Keeping high tide alerts in mind, we have set up special barricading and watchtowers at the venue and no one is allowed to go near the seashore.”
Lakhs of people from across the country gather at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar on December 6 every year and the civic body erects pandals for them at Shivaji Park. However, senior civic officials said the untimely rains soaked the pandals, making them unfit for use and the Shivaji Park grounds too have become mucky.
The BMC late Monday evening arranged temporary accommodations at BMC schools in G-North civic ward and has released a list of around 70 schools where visitors have been accommodated. “With the city on alert from December 4 to 7 for rain along with high tide of upto 4.5 metres, we have a challenge of controlling a huge crowd pouring into the city and visiting the venue close to the sea for the Mahaparinirvan Diwas,” said a senior BMC official.
Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the civic body had made all necessary arrangements, especially food and water, at the schools for Ambedkar followers. “The situation in the city is under control. However, the attention currently is on Chaityabhoomi, where lakhs of people will be gathering on December 6. The crowd looks thinner as compared to every year. Normally, it is seen that crowd from across the state and other parts of the country starts pouring in to the city by December 4. However, this time this wasn’t seen. We have still made necessary arrangements in case people reach the city late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. We are prepared,” he added.
The BMC’s disaster management department has kept a team of 45 NDRF personnel on standby to help in rescue operations in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, due to the showers, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar released this year’s Mahaparinirvan Diwas booklet Tuesday evening at the Mayor’s bungalow instead of the Shivaji Park ground.
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