Hoshangabad: Thousands of devotees joined Nagdwari Yatra on Tuesday and had a darshan of Lord Nagdwari. They came not only from the nearby areas of the district and other parts of the state but even from far off places like Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra.
Mahadev Mela Samiti and the district administration have made all arrangements to ensure that the pilgrims do not face any inconvenience. District collector Avinash Lavania, patron of the Samiti, its president PC Sharma and secretary Madan Singh Raghuvanshi, toured the area to fine tune the arrangements. Officials of the food department visited the fair area and urged the owners of eateries to take care that only fresh food was served to the devotees and they were not over-charged. They were warned that if they ignored the instructions, they would not be allowed to do their business in the mela area.
The officials of the transport department are trying to ensure that the taxis charge only the prescribed fare from passengers. The taxi owners have been asked not to overload their vehicles and to drive safely, especially in view of the rainy season. They have been told if they do not follow the directives, penal action would be taken against them.
Medical camps have been set up at different places on the route of the yatra to provide medical help to the pilgrims, if needed. Besides basic medicines and first aid, the camps also have arrangement of shifting patients to hospitals.
Adequate security arrangements have been made and the executive magistrates and police personnel are keeping an eye on the anti-social elements of the area.
A control room has been set up at Pachmarhi for maintaining a vigil. Field officials have been asked to submit hourly reports to the control room. Measures have been taken to deal with any disaster or emergency. Prompt action is being taken on complaints being received at the control room through phone. Fire engines, ambulances and big generators have been arranged.
