Priority to ensure safe Chhath festival, DM says

PATNA: Managing the state capital is a challenge for any IAS official and the new district magistrate (DM), Abhay Kumar Singh, is aware of it, especially in the backdrop of his transfer to Patna following the Gandhi Maidan stampede in which 33 persons were killed on Dussehra.|
“As I have taken charge in a different backdrop, my priority would be to maintain law and order and ensure the festivals, especially Chhath, are celebrated peacefully,” he said on Monday. “Apart from festival preparations, the high court cases and those related to RTPS Act will be given priority. Dealing with such a huge urban population is definitely a new experience for me. I have around 1,000 pending cases to which I shall have to give time,” he added. “We are making elaborate arrangements to handle rumourmongering by creating public awareness and using public address system, ” Singh said.