Sangam boats being decked up ahead of Mahakumbh-2025
Ahead of Mahakumbh-2025, efforts are underway to repair and beautify boats at Sangam, enhancing safety and cleanliness for pilgrims.
Keeping in mind the key role played by boatmen in facilitating pilgrims to perform various religious rituals at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at Sangam, a major exercise to repair and beautify the boats is underway ahead of Mahakumbh-2025.

On one hand, the boatmen have been provided life jackets and safety insurance certificates while on the other the Prayagraj Mela Authority is also leading the mission to ensure that the boats are well maintained and adhere to all safety standards for the fair, said officials.
Under the Namami Gange Mission, along with keeping the ghats of Ganga, Yamuna and the boats running in them clean, painting of the boats is also being undertaken, they added.
SDM (Mela) Abhinav Pathak said that under the ‘Paint My City’ campaign, beautification work is being done on the ghats and boats of the entire Prayagraj city and Sangam area under the Namami Gange Mission. He said that the mela authority is getting the work of painting done in an area of 5 lakh square feet.
In the same sequence, the work of painting about 2,000 boats is also being done, so that the pilgrims coming to Mahakumbh have a pleasant experience and they get inspired by the cleanliness messages painted and contribute to keeping the rivers clean, he added.
The boatmen who have been operating boats for generations in Prayagraj Sangam say that for the first time in Kumbh-2019 and Mahakumbh-2025, special efforts focused on the boatmen is being taken.
Boatman Siyaram Nishad says that earlier only licenses were issued and rates fixed for boat travel on big occasions like Kumbh and Mahakumbh while the boatmen did not get any other facility. In this Mahakumbh, the state government has increased the rate of boat travel by 50% along with providing life jackets and insurance cover. Now the government is also getting our boats repaired and painted, he added.
