Varanasi: A district-level peace committee meeting to ensure peaceful conduct of the mourning month of Muharram was held on Wednesday at the Traffic Police Line auditorium. The meeting was presided over by police commissioner Mohit Agrawal and attended by was district magistrate Satyendra Kumar, along with religious leaders/imams/taziadars and members of Civil Defence. The police commissioner warned that this is the era of technology, so no one will get away after committing a crime as CCTV cameras are installed everywhere and all security personnel have mobile phones in their hands. He told all peace committee members that on receiving information about any fake or misleading news, they must immediately inform the district administration or their nearest police station, so that necessary action can be taken by taking cognisance of it, so that peace and law and order are maintained in the district. He said that no objectionable video should be posted on social media and directed care regarding the places identified in previous years in the peace committee meetings held at police stations. He said strict surveillance will be maintained through social media and drone cameras.District magistrate Satyendra Kumar spoke with each member of the peace committee one by one, heard their problems and issued instructions to officials of the departments concerned to resolve them. He asked committee members to exercise necessary vigilance with regard to security and other arrangements and directed all officials concerned to visit spots where tazias are kept and ensure foolproof security arrangements. He told committee members not to display weapons along with the tazia and asked them to keep the volume of public address systems in check. The district magistrate said all festivals over past one year were concluded peacefully and harmoniously and said all residents of the district will observe Muharram peacefully. He said no such practice or ritual should be followed that hurts anyone’s sentiments. He told peace committee members that height of the tazia should be according to prescribed limit. He said everyone’s faith should be respected and as announced by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, no new tradition would be allowed. Processions must be organised along traditional routes only. He directed additional municipal commissioner to ensure cleaning of sewers, drains and places where tazias are kept, and for spraying of lime. Kumar directed the DPRO for this arrangement in rural areas and directed officials of municipal corporation and Panchayati Raj to ensure availability of drinking water in view of the rising summer heat, along with repairing defunct RO plants/handpumps on a priority basis and arranging water tankers at places where required. He directed officials of electricity distribution division to ensure that there are no electric poles, electric boxes and hanging wires and to ensure uninterrupted power supply in view of the holy month. He directed the executive engineer of public works department to ensure filling the potholes on lanes through which tazias pass. He directed the officials of the concerned departments for sewage, pruning of trees, and lighting arrangements.
