Narendra Modi's Kalyan visit restricts weddings, stops cremation midway

Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kalyan yesterday. Modi inaugurated infrastructure and housing projects. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The Prime Minister spent a few hours in Kalyan where he inaugurated housing and infrastructure projects worth Rs 41,000 crore, but his visit proved very costly for many residents. Due to restrictions because of the visit, a man had to get his daughter married in their building premises. Over 50 shopkeepers had to close their shops, two police personnel were injured in an accident and even a cremation was stopped midway.

Wedding in the building
His daughter's wedding day was understandably big for Hasu Pawar, a resident of Lal Chowki. But his dream was shattered when two days before, he got a list of things not to do, from the police. Pawar said, "They told me that we couldn't take the baraat with band baja. We would have to park about a km away and walk to the hall. How could my guests arrive? We cancelled the hall, got our money back, and set up a stage in our building's parking lot. We could play music and roam about freely."

Hasu Pawar held his daughter's wedding in their building premises

But another family facing the issue didn't have the option. Kondiba Chaorat from the groom's side, said, "We came to know about this two days back and decided to come before 10 am, though our muhurat was after 12, so that everyone could reach. The hall owner cooperated a lot. We arranged a bus and requested police to allow us to drop everyone near the hall and the bus would be parked in another place."

The police too were a little troubled by the PM's visit. Two days before his visit, all speed breakers were removed from the route he was to take. On Tuesday morning, a bike and car rammed each other on the route, injuring two police constables. Most shop owners on the route were asked to close their stores. A mobile shop owner, Jayesh Shah said, "Around 50 shops in our locality were closed today."

Cremation stopped
The Lal Chowki crematorium authorities were asked to close it. Parshuram Patil, a security guard said, "We took only one body early in the morning. We started the cremation machine but then police asked us to close the doors. We stopped the cremation and then started it again after 4 pm."

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