Official trio keeps night watch at Davanagere jatra venue

Davanagere: Answering the call of duty, three senior district officials in Davanagere went the extra mile — staying up through the night to monitor an annual jatra event Tuesday.At a time when govt officials are often criticised for dereliction of duty, the deputy commissioner, zilla panchayat CEO, and superintendent of police earned praise for maintaining an all-night vigil to ensure law and order at the event.The annual Davanagere jatra refers to the Durgambika (Durgamma) Devi jatre, one of the biggest religious fairs in Davanagere city, held around February-March. It draws tens of thousands of devotees from the district and its neighbouring areas. With the jatra running late into the night, narrow city roads and dense residential areas around the temple increase risks of stampede, traffic chaos or medical emergencies, posing a logistical as well as law-and-order challenge for the administration. Sharing his experiences with TOI, Gangadharaswamy G M, the DC, said: "We were anticipating that the spectators would dissipate by midnight, but the numbers only swelled as we kept vigil. Fortunately, there was no problem in terms of either unlawful services at the event or crowd management." More than one lakh devotees had a peaceful ‘darshan' of the deity and took part in the rituals, with many trooping in from Chitradurga, Ballari, and Haveri, the official added. SP Shekhar H T said precautionary measures were taken a week in advance, with Rapid Action Force, state reserve police, and local police personnel keeping a vigil. Drone cameras and CCTVs were installed across the venue to keep a hawk eye on the proceedings.