Bathing ghats full to capacity as 1.57 cr take holy dip on Sunday
Devotee influx hampered traffic movement in different parts of Prayagraj as well as roads leading inside the district
More than 1.57 crore devotees took the holy dip at various ghats in Mahakumbh on Sunday as a heavy rush of devotees continued to pour into the Mela area all through the day.
Devotee influx hampered traffic movement in different parts of Prayagraj as well as roads leading inside the district. Vehicles queued up for several kilometers on the outskirts of Prayagraj while bathing ghats remained full all through the day.
As per official records, till 2pm on Sunday, 99.45 lakh devotees had bathed in the Ganga while the count continued to swell with each passing hour reaching over 1.23 crore by 4pm.
Vehicles of devotees arriving from all parts of UP and from other states were made to park in parking slots made on the outskirts of the district forcing devotees to walk seven to 10 kilometers to reach the Mela area.
Travel time increases several times
People heading for Prayagraj are taking nearly four times the actual time to reach. For example, generally travelling from Jabalpur to Prayagraj takes around six to seven hours. However, owing to severe traffic jams, a family from Kareli took 24 hours to complete this journey.
That was the experience of Kareli resident Chhoti who travelled with her husband Paritosh Dwivedi and seven-year-old son Avyan from Jabalpur for Prayagraj at 7am on Saturday. Owing to severe traffic jams and toll booths closed in Rewa, long queues of vehicles were witnessed on the highway. At midnight, the family crossed the MP border and entered UP, but the situation was even worse near Chakghat. The family finally reached home at 7 am on Sunday.
Similarly, Anil Srivastava, a resident of Varanasi, proceeded for Prayagraj at 8 am on Saturday along with his family. Caught in a severe bottleneck near Gopiganj, the family arrived in the Jhunsi area of Prayagraj at 5pm on Saturday.
Shuttle buses too stuck in the jam
Dozens of shuttle buses were also caught in traffic bottlenecks in different parts of the city on Sunday. Shuttle buses pressed into service for transporting devotees to the Mela area were also stuck in traffic jams for several hours.
Traffic leads to shortage of essential supplies
Shortage of milk was reported from different parts of the city on Sunday as milk vans bringing in milk from outside the district failed to arrive on Monday. Shopkeepers also expressed their inability over shortage of other commodities like vegetables, ration, etc in some parts of the city. District supply officer Sunil Singh said that efforts were being made to normalise supply of milk and other essential commodities.
Bathing Count
Official records revealed, by 8am on Sunday 47.07 lakh devotees had bathed in the Ganga which increased to 66.33 lakh at 10am, 84.29 lakh at 12noon, 99.65 lakh at 2pm and 1.23 crore at 4pm.
Records revealed that on Saturday, the count of devotees having taken the dip since commencement of Mela had crossed the 42-crore mark with 1.32 crore devotees having bathed in holy waters till 8pm on Friday.
All through the day, paramilitary personnel along with UP Police struggled to keep the movement of devotees under control diverting them at particular points to ease crowd pressure in a particular area.
In view of the continuous heavy influx of devotees in the Mela area, according to government claims, the total pilgrim count could well cross the 50-crore (500 million) mark.
The Mahakumbh has witnessed completion of four out of total six bathing including three Amrit Snans of Makar Sankranti on January 14, Mauni Amavasya on January 29 and Basant Panchami on February 3, besides the first bathing of Paush Purnima on January 13,
as well as the month-long Kalpwas, which will end with the fifth bathing of Maghi Purnima on February 12.
Caption : Crowd of devotees throng Sangam for taking the holy dip on Sunday. (HT)
