Varanasi: Non-vegetarian food will not be available in Kashi and along the kanwariya routes leading to the city from the outskirts during the auspicious month of Shrawan, commencing Thursday.Elaborate traffic restrictions have also been announced to ensure the smooth movement of kanwariyas, with one side of most roads reserved exclusively for them, while two-way vehicular traffic will ply on the other side. Areas witnessing heavy kanwariya movement will be declared no-traffic zones from Guru Purnima.Regarding the ban on the sale of meat, fish and other non-vegetarian food within the city and on roads in the outskirts falling under the limits of Varanasi Nagar Nigam, mayor Ashok Tiwari said on Monday that the VMC would ensure closure of such shops, as it did during Shrawan in 2025. The VMC had also made provisions to lodge FIRs in case of violations.Tiwari made it clear that all such shops would remain closed 100% during the month.While the VMC was busy finalising its arrangements, the police had started implementing traffic management measures in view of Guru Purnima falling on Wednesday. Mirzapur police enforced traffic diversion on the Chunar-Sakteshgarh-Mirzapur road near the Varanasi border to manage the crowd thronging Sakteshgarh Ashram of Swami Adgadanand to participate in the three-day Guru Purnima fair and celebrations.ADG, Varanasi Zone, Piyush Mordia said the traffic diversion enforced by Mirzapur police was made in view of the three-day fair, which attracts a huge crowd on the occasion of Guru Purnima. The arrangement will continue till late Thursday evening. After a break of a few hours, traffic diversions and crowd management plans on highways and routes leading to prominent Shiv temples, where kanwariyas throng to offer jalabhishek during Shrawan, will come into effect across the zone from Thursday midnight, Mordia said.In Varanasi, police commissioner Mohit Agrawal said all basic exercises to reserve all lanes on one side of the divider on the Varanasi-Prayagraj highway had been completed. Apart from this, arrangements had also been made on all other highways to regulate traffic according to the movement of kanwariyas. Police outposts and vehicles are being stationed at intervals of every 4 km between Varanasi and Prayagraj. He appealed to kanwariya groups to follow the prescribed rules, especially the permissible sound limit for DJs if they bring them along.DM Satyendra Kumar, who along with the Commissioner of Police reviewed Shrawan preparations at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Ganga ghats, city roads and highways, said that all arrangements had been completed in view of the tradition of lakhs of devotees arriving to offer jalabhishek at Kashi Vishwanath and other prominent Lord Shiva temples. Barricading around Kashi Vishwanath Dham has been done after consulting local traders so that their business is not affected. Alternative road arrangements have been made at places where the ropeway project is underway to ensure devotees do not face any inconvenience, Kumar said.Officials said that apart from police, central and state armed force personnel, teams of the NDRF, the PAC’s flood relief company and the river police are being deployed in adequate numbers in and around the city and along the river. For effective crowd management and maintenance of law and order, the district has been divided into zones and sectors, Agrawal said, adding that police personnel in plain clothes would also remain present among the crowd to foil any attempt by anti-social elements to create disturbances.The entire district is covered by a CCTV camera network monitored from the Trinetra Integrated Command Centre and the Kashi Vishwanath Dham control room. Drone cameras will also be deployed, he added.Agrawal said routes for the movement of kanwariyas and other pilgrims had been finalised. They will join designated queues to enter Kashi Vishwanath Dham, he said, adding that all crowd management arrangements were being made to ensure devotees reach the temple sanctum in the shortest possible time. Devotees will return from the temple through the same side from which they entered to collect their belongings.Arrangements for drinking water, toilets, medical assistance, and a lost-and-found centre will be available as in previous years. Agrawal said traffic diversions for city roads and parking zones had also been finalised.
