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PM’s vision, CM’s supervision shaping Digital Mahakumbh
CM Yogi Adityanath realizes PM Modi's 'Digital Mahakumbh' vision with Mahakumbh Nagar, enhancing amenities and digital access for the fair.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is turning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Digital Mahakumbh’ into reality with state’s newly created 76th district, ‘Mahakumbh Nagar,’ being equipped with comprehensive civic amenities in record time.
For the first time, Mahakumbh fair is being organised digitally. Through ‘Mahakumbh Land and Facility Allocation’ portal, land and facilities were accessible with a single click. In Kumbh 2019, details and allocations of over 5,500 institutions were digitized while this time, land is being allocated to over 10,000 institutions, including government, emergency, social, and religious organisations.
According to additional mela officer Vivek Chaturvedi, a GIS-based map has been utilised to design layout of the Kumbh Mela, spanning 4,000 hectares across 25 sectors. Pre and post-monsoon drone surveys were conducted to create precise topographic maps of the land. These surveys resulted in preparation of high-resolution maps, GIS- based layers, and geo-referenced CAD files with an accuracy of 0.5 cm.
Key public utilities and emergency service locations, including police stations, checkpoints, command and control centres, hospitals, parking areas, food courts, vending zones, toilets, pontoon bridges, and roads, have been made accessible to devotees via Google Maps for ease and convenience.
To ensure transparency and equal opportunities, Prayagraj Mela Authority has accepted applications even from institutions that participated in Kumbh 2019. For this, the authority conducted extensive publicity and invited applications on its portal.
The 2019 Kumbh data was analysed to allocate land and facilities following established rules. After application analysis, allocation, and approval by the authority, digitized facility slips were created. Vendors can view these facility slips online and update the details, including photos, in coordination with institutions.
The greatest aspect of digital and online system is its transparency, allowing applicants to access updates about their land allocation and facilities at any time and raise objections if necessary. To assist with facilitating devotees and expediting their requests, many ‘Kumbh Fellows’ have been deployed to support Mela administration.
Compared to Mahakumbh 2013, the area for Mahakumbh 2025 has been doubled. The number of sectors has increased from 18 to 25, and the ghats have risen from 7 to 10, reflecting the significant expansion of the event.
