Six thousand police will keep watch on World Culture Festival

Six thousand police will keep watch on World Culture Festival... as traffic officers brace for chaos in East Delhi

With Art of Living’s World Culture Festival set to begin on Friday, major traffic snarls may grip arterial roads in East Delhi.

Four major roads - NH-24, Ring Road, Noida Link Road and DND Flyway are expected to witness heavy traffic. Delhi Traffic Police have imposed 13 major traffic diversions to avoid inconvenience to general commuters. 

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander, who is charting out the traffic plan for the event, visited the venue on Thursday to take stock of the arrangements. 

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The World Culture Festival on Yamuna floodplain has raised traffic concerns

Organisers have made provisions for parking on the Yamuna bank. 

The space is limited, so parking will be on a first-come-first-served basis, he said.

People should preferably take public transport to commute and avoid the Noida Link Road, NH-24 and the Ring Road stretch from the point of intersection with Bhairon Marg till the mouth of the DND Flyway, a traffic official said, adding that congestion can be expected on these stretches between 12 noon and 11pm. 

The official further said that those approaching from the trans-Yamuna region towards central Delhi should use the ITO road as Akshardham and NH-24 will be congested. 

Art of Living's World Culture Festival will be held as per the plan, despite the organisers refusing to pay the fine imposed by the NGT

Commuters from Noida heading towards Delhi should take the DND Flyway as traffic on the Noida link road is expected to be heavy during the event, he added. 

Meanwhile, security arrangements for the event on the western bank of Yamuna across DND Flyway were heightened on Thursday. 

Several specialised police units and all the 11 districts have been roped in amidst an uncertainty regarding the total footfall, which the three-day event would witness. 

Police has also charted out a traffic plan to make sure that the arterial roads in the Capital are not clogged during the event. 

Police again inspected the venue and prepared a status report that was submitted to a joint secretary-rank official in-charge of supervising the security arrangements, a senior official said. 

A few shortcomings listed in the status report includes lack of direction boards, no fencing on the path leading to the venue, especially from Gate No. 10 and 11, which will give an access to the general public and inadequate CCTV cameras. 

The official said that these shortcomings have been communicated to the organisers.

The report contains dozens of photographs of the site on the Yamuna floodplains and also highlights the absence of fencing and barricading on the pontoon bridges (floating bridges) constructed there, the senior official said.

A meeting chaired by the Special Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) was held at the venue today and security for the event was further stepped up. 

Around 6,000 personnel from all the districts of Delhi Police and its specialised units like the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Special Cell will be deployed at the World Culture Festival. 

A special police control room would also be set up to ensure round-the-clock monitoring.

 

Art of Living is yet to deposit Rs 5 crore fine

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art Of Living (AOL) Foundation has until Friday to deposit Rs 5 crore as the “environmental compensation” imposed on it by the National Green Tribunal, the court said on Thursday.

NGT made it clear that “the law will take its own course if it (AOL) fails to do so.” 

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) informed NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar that AOL had not paid the fine. 

In its final judgment on a petition against AOL’s World Culture Festival being held on the Yamuna floodplain, the NGT had asked the organisation to pay Rs 5 crore to restore the “damaged” river site. 

It was to hand over this amount to DDA “a day before the event”, that is March 10. 

Mail Today could not independently verify if AOL had paid the amount before the newspaper went to press.

Repeated attempts to contact AOL spokespersons did not elicit any response.