All eyes on weather amid Mahakumbh preparations

Chief engineer, Public Works Department, AK Dwivedi said work was in full swing for laying checkered plates at Gata Marg, besides sectors 8 and 9

allahabad.htdesk@hindustantimes.com

A group of policemen crowd around a small bonfire to beat the cold in Mela area on a chilly and foggy day on the banks of Sangam in Prayagraj on Wednesday. (Anil Kumar Maurya/HT)

With less than 15 days to go for the Mahakumbh-2025, workers raced to complete their tasks for the mega event even as the onset of a western disturbance led to mild showers and a drop in temperature in the past two days.

Chief engineer, Public Works Department, AK Dwivedi said work was in full swing for laying checkered plates at Gata Marg, besides sectors 8 and 9. The work would be completed in the next one or two days, he said.

On the other hand, Rajendra Paliwal, president of Prayagwal Sabha, an organisation of teerth purohits (priests), claimed not a single camp for 1000-odd teerth purohits had been set up so far.

He also claimed the work of laying checkered plates was incomplete in the far-off sectors 8 and 9, located near Phaphamau, besides sectors 10, 11 and 12.

Similarly, work of setting up of public toilets and tents for Kalpwasis, besides pontoon bridges, was still incomplete, it was claimed.

The ongoing western disturbance had resulted in a rise in winter chill and, after a brief sunshine on Wednesday afternoon, overcast skies with slight showers could bring the mercury down further in the next two to three days, said former faculty at Allahabad University’s department of geography prof BN Mishra.

“Today, the maximum temperature is around 14 degrees Celsius which could well come down to 10 degrees in the next two to three days,” he said.