Adopted new technique for better crowd, traffic management: UP DGP
To monitor the mela area closely, a war room has been set up in Lucknow, with more than 2,500 active cameras providing live feeds.
Taking lessons from faults during the stampede on Mauni Amavasya during Mahakumbh 2025, the state police have adopted a new management technique to further improve crowd management and streamline traffic flow heading into and moving out of the mela area, said UP Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar. Besides, the police have focused on managing crowd and traffic flow in other religious towns such as Chitrakoot, Vindhyanchal in Mirzapur, Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
“It was not a fault on the administrative front, but the overwhelming response from devotees to visit Mahakumbh led to the Mauni Amavasya stampede,” said the DGP while speaking to media persons on Wednesday, and added, “We have further improved things after taking feedback from different communities on a strategy, ‘Build Back Better,’ aimed at reducing the risk to people, nations, and communities in the wake of future disasters and shocks.”
To monitor the mela area closely, a war room has been set up in Lucknow, with more than 2,500 active cameras providing live feeds. Additionally, the railways are running over 400 special trains on major bathing days and around 350 trains daily to facilitate transportation.
He said a tragic stampede at the Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj, on Mauni Amavasya on January 29, 2025, claimed the lives of around 30 people and left several injured as a massive crowd rushed to take a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam.
The DGP, however, praised the overall management of Mahakumbh 2025, which has witnessed a massive turnout of 46-47 crore devotees so far. While he acknowledged the mistake during the Mauni Amavasya Snan, he emphasized that lessons have been learned to prevent future incidents. He credited the event’s success to the implementation of new crowd management techniques.
He stated that the Uttar Pradesh government is committed to ensuring a safe and successful Mahakumbh experience for devotees.