Journalism of Courage
The district administration is leaving no stone unturned by way of precautions for the month-long Wari procession from Dehu and Alandi to Pandharpur,beginning July 4,in which nearly 5 lakh devotees are expected to come together. Security measures include policemen and commandos for the route,and checks on any unidentified objects.
District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar,who took stock of the situation,assessed the security measures in place for the wari. Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band,District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi,Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh and other senior officials were present at a meeting on Friday.
Seven bomb disposal squads will be present at Alandi and five at Dehu. Pune Municipal Corporation has been asked to take care of private hawkers who put up stalls. They have been instructed to do away with the welcome arches and properly dispose off garbage piling up along the procession route every year.
Resident Deputy Collector Anil Pawar said that the police personnel will come out with a list of dos and donts,to be circulated among the waris. Nearly 250 groups from both Alandi and Dehu will join enroute Pandharpur and we have marked out several halts. We will make sure that these areas have water,electricity among other things, he said.Water tankers would be provided to ensure that there is no shortage of water for the waris. Every group representative will be given an identification letter. They in turn have to provide all the details of the group members to trace any miscreants or unidentified persons joining the wari procession.
