Over 1 crore pilgrims are expected to take the holy dip in Sangam on the fourth major bathing festival of Basant Panchami in Prayagraj on Thursday.
Coinciding with the Republic Day, the occasion is expected to attract devotees in large numbers to the ongoing Magh Mela. The Mela administration is expecting around 1.25 crore pilgrims on the day and claims to be all ready for the huge footfall.
With the auspicious period of taking the dip kick-starting at 5.58pm on Wednesday, the pilgrims had started pouring in from Tuesday itself and the trend continued all though the day. The auspicious duration would continue till 4.17pm on Thursday.
“The devotees can take the dip and perform religious rituals and offer prayers from sunrise till evening on Thursday as the best mahurat for the puja is from 8am,” said Pt Diwakar Tripathi Purvanchali, director of Utthan Jyotish Sansthan, Prayagraj.
He said that a very beautiful combination of planets is being formed on the holy occasion. “Venus is transiting in Aquarius along with Lord Shani, and Jupiter is transiting in Pisces. In this way, the transit of Shani Dev, the giver of karma, and the planet Guru, the factor of righteousness, in their respective zodiac signs will increase the importance of this day,” he claimed.
Magh Mela Adhikari Arvind Kumar Chauhan inspected all the bathing ghats on Wednesday morning. The officers were instructed that all arrangements should be made for crowd management.
{{/usCountry}}Magh Mela Adhikari Arvind Kumar Chauhan inspected all the bathing ghats on Wednesday morning. The officers were instructed that all arrangements should be made for crowd management.
{{/usCountry}}“All preparations are complete. Instructions have been given to maintain cleanliness on the ghats and to increase the number of toilets and changing rooms,” he said.
A total of 16 temporary bathing ghats have been made ready for the pilgrims providing a total of 7,000 square metres of area for the visitors to take the dip, he added.
Officials have also been asked to increase the circulating area at all the ghats, so that there is even distribution of the crowd. ADM Vivek Chaturvedi has been entrusted with the responsibility of crowd management by coordinating with the police.