CHANDIGARH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city on Friday threw normal life out of gear, with families encountering difficulties in cremating their dead and schools remianing closed.
Ambulances took a longer time to reach the hospitals and several parking lots were closed, besides the chaotic traffic, prompting Modi to express regret at the inconvenience caused to the residents. He also asked the authorities to probe the matter.
It was Modi’s first visit to Chandigarh after becoming Prime Minister. The parking lot at the main crematorium in Sector 25 of the city was turned into the parking space for a nearby public rally addressed by the PM. And the bereaved families were asked to use other crematoriums in the Western part of the city or in neighbouring Mohali.
Brigadier (retd) Devinder Singh, who fought in the Kargil War in 1999 against Pakistan, was among them. His 24-year-old son was killed in a road accident on Thursday. Singh had to cremate his son in Mohali since the main crematorium was not available.
“The administration could have at least given prior notice about the ban on entry to the cremation ground in Sector 25. The families of the bereaved were asked to delay the last rites of the dead for a few hours,” said an angry resident, who had come to cremate a family member.
One of the two roads leading to the cremation ground was also closed as it fell on the route leading to rally venue. A second access road to the cremation ground was, however, kept open, but again, it was not approachable.