Meerut: Most of Meerut’s main churches are situated in the Cantonment and forthcoming Sunday being one of the biggest festivals of Christians, Easter, access to these churches becomes a cause of inconvenience especially when events like marathons are held on these roads.
One such marathon has again been planned by the administration on the forthcoming Sunday. On Monday, priests in-charge of these churches – Central Methodist, St. John’s, St. Paul’s, St. Joseph and St. James, met the administration and urged them to postpone the event as continuous barricading at various spots make it almost impossible for the devotees to reach the churches.
The administration exhibited its inability to change the date but promised that rules will be eased. Nevertheless no definite route has yet been opened to them.
A large number of devotees could not reach the church on March 13 as yet another marathon had taken place that blocked all the routes to the cantonment.
The priest in-charge of St. John’s Church, Reverend Rinvi Noel, said, “Easter is a major festival of Christians. I feel that the authorities should have taken into consideration the importance of the festival before planning the event. The city magistrate has promised that security agencies will be briefed that Christians should be allowed to pass through. But the question of how we will be allowed to cross the main Mall Road when the marathon is being held is something only time will tell.”
Christians have two main services on the festival. First is the dawn service when devotees visit graveyards and commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also visit the graves of their dear ones.
One of the biggest graveyards is situated within the Cantonment. The dawn service will be conducted at 5:30 am, while the first marathon is at 6:00 am. Then there are church services that start from 9:00 am. But again, other categories of marathon are also scheduled at the same time.
When Times of India spoke to city magistrate Keshav Prasad, he said, “We have discussed the issue with the Christian priests and also studied the route plan. We will brief the security set to ease the rules for Christians in particular. In addition, the different categories of marathon planned for Sunday are not going to be of a longer duration as was the last time. Regarding the postponement of the event, a large number of participants have already been informed of the date and preparations are in the last stages so it is not easy to postpone it.”
Divisional commissioner Alok Sinha, however, assured the community, “They (Christians) need not worry. Things will be sorted out. We will ensure that the marathon does not disturb Easter celebrations.”