The city police demanded specific modifications at the venue of World Cultural Festival to avoid any chances of stampede. They have written letter to concerned agencies and the organisers to make necessary arrangements.

Traffic police will also hold a meeting on Thursday to prepare a plan to keep the arterial roads near the venue decongest during the event. The festival, organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, is scheduled to be held on the Yamuna floodplains on March 11-13.

“On March 1, a police team had inspected the venue of the event and found certain shortcomings, especially with regard to the stage where the Prime Minister and other VVIPs are to be seated,” said a police source.

The stage for VVIPs also did not have the mandatory structural certificate, following which police communicated the matter to the ministry of urban development.

In the Delhi police letter to the urban development ministry, it was mentioned that the police perceived a “pandemonium,” which is bound to result in utter chaos leading to total law and order breakdown, the source said.

About the structural certificate, the police wrote in the letter, that all concerned authorities had refused to issue the document, a prerequisite for setting up the centrestage.

Initially, the Delhi police took up the matter with CPWD which refused to sanction the certificate, following which the Delhi PWD and DDA were approached and they refused too. The police said the organisers were repeatedly asked to approach the concerned agencies themselves so that the police could make security arrangement well in time, the source said.

Sandeep Goel, Joint CP (traffic), “We are taking measures to keep the venue decongest. We had held a meeting with the organisers to discuss parking arrangements at the venue, as the event will also witness VIP visits. A traffic plan for the event will be briefed to traffic cops.” The police also expressed threat in connection with the pontoon bridges (floating bridges) set up at the venue and the hazards connected therewith, as they were found to be “unstable.”