Deputy Commissioner, Kathua Rahul Pandey today convened a meeting of officers of different departments and representatives of religious organisations to review the arrangements being put in place for the celebration of Navratri festival.At the outset, the Pujaris and members of Mandirs and Shrines committees highlighted the issues related to the arrangements for smooth celebrations of Navratra festival.
During the meeting, issues including road connectivity, cleanliness, uninterrupted electricity, regular drinking water supply, security, medical facilities, traffic management, repair of high mast lights, check on the rates and quality of food items and deployment of fire tenders, ambulance etc. were discussed in detail.
The Deputy Commissioner directed the engineers of PWD, RDD, Jal Shakti and PDD to ensure road connectivity, water supply and uninterrupted power supply to the shrines and temples during the Navratra festival. He asked the Police authorities to provide adequate security arrangements.
The EOs of Municipalities were directed to maintain cleanliness in and around shrines in Urban areas, while ACD Kathua was directed to ensure cleanliness and sanitation in rural areas of the district.The DC directed the Traffic authorities to ensure proper management of traffic during Navratras, while the RTO was asked to place proper signboards for the convenience of the devotees.
He asked the concerned authorities to keep a check on rates and quality of food items being sold during the festival. The Health Department was directed to keep sufficient provision for medicare for the visitors.Earlier, representatives of mandir committees of Mata Balasundri, Jasrota Mata Mandir, Sherkotla Mandir, Ashapurni Mandir etc projected several issues and demanded immediate attention of the administration.
The Deputy Commissioner passed on spot instructions to the concerned department to redress the issues before the start of Navratra festival.The DC also called for interdepartmental coordination and impressed upon functionaries of concerned departments to put in place all necessary arrangements well in time for smooth celebration of the festival.
SSP R C Kotwal, DC State Taxes Ranjit Singh, ADC, Kathua Atul Gupta, ADC Billawar, ADC Basohli, ACR Kathua SDM Hiranagar, officer of Police, Traffic and other concerned departments were also present.