The Delhi Police Special Branch has suggested that blacksmiths along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route should be relocated as they eat non-vegetarian food and leave the bones behind, PTI reported on Friday.

The Special Branch has directed the district police to chart the route of the Kanwar Yatra.

“Due to the non-availability of a proper disposal system, they [blacksmiths] leave the bones and the Kanwar Yatris, going for holy pilgrimage, would have issues with this,” an unidentified officer of the force said, according to PTI.

During the Kanwar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage, devotees of the Hindu deity Shiva collect water from the Ganga river and offer it at temples in their respective states. These devotees, called Kanwariyas, cover hundreds of kilometres on foot.

This year, the Kanwar Yatra will be held from July 14 to 26. It is being organised after two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an advisory, the Special Branch also described Kanwar camps as soft targets and suggested the district police maintain vigil to foil plans of terrorists and other “unscrupulous elements”, according to The Indian Express.

It also suggested strict monitoring of social media platforms for fake posts.

“The input [from Special Branch] states that anti-social elements sometimes circulate fake social media posts to provoke a particular community and push them to violate the law,” another unidentified officer told The Indian Express. “It says that since the Kanwar Yatra is a major event for Hindu devotees, the posts can have serious law and order implications, and that there is a need to keep a close watch on what is shared.”

The Special Branch further flagged the use of music systems during the Kanwar Yatra and said that it could lead to a law and order situation if the camps are situated in mixed populations areas.

In 2018, agitated Kanwariya pilgrims in West Delhi’s Moti Nagar vandalised a car after it had brushed past one of them on a congested road.