Haridwar, June 20 -- Police departments from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are stepping up coordination efforts to ensure the smooth and peaceful conduct of the annual Kanwar yatra, officials aware of the development said on Thursday. The annual monsoon pilgrimage will be held from July 10 to July 23 this year. According to Uttarakhand police officials, two key inter-state meetings were held this week-one in Haridwar on Wednesday and another in Roorkee on Thursday. "The focus of these discussions was the timely exchange of intelligence, especially regarding the expected influx of Kanwariyas (devotees), traffic management, monitoring of anti-social elements, and prevention of criminal activities during the pilgrimage," an Uttarakhand police official said. "Last year, around 40 million Kanwariyas visited Uttarakhand, most of them from Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, seamless coordination and effective crowd management between both states is absolutely essential," city superintendent of police, Pankaj Gairola said. Both sides have also agreed to intensify checking at inter-state border checkpoints and closely monitor suspicious activities. "Intelligence will be shared in real-time, and police deployment at sensitive points will be increased," said Bijnor city superintendent of police Sanjeev Bajpai.htc...