The auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya took a tragic turn during the early hours of Wednesday, January 29, after a stampede broke out at the Triveni Sangam at the Maha Kumbh at around 2.30 am. According to people in knowledge of developments, at least 15 bodies have been brought to the hospital, they told on condition of anonymity.
The administration is now asking the devotees to retreat in order to control the chaos.
Several akharas have also postponed or called off the Mauni Amavasya' ‘shahi snan’, also called ‘amrit snan’ in view of the stampede. According to the spokesperson of the Juna Akhara Narain Giri, the akharas have postponed their ‘snan’ due to the stampede and excessive pressure of the crowd.
Mahant Ravindra Puri, the president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad said that the seers have called off their amrit snan, reported PTI. "You would've seen what happened in the morning, and that's why we have decided to... All of our saints and seers were ready for the 'snan' when we were informed about this incident. That's why we have decided to call off our 'snan' on 'Mauni Amavasya'," he said.
A seer of the Panchayati Mahanirvani that the situation doesn't seem "suitable" for snan because of the huge crowd. "So the Akhara has stopped the 'Snan' for the Mahamandaleshwars..." he told news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}A seer of the Panchayati Mahanirvani that the situation doesn't seem "suitable" for snan because of the huge crowd. "So the Akhara has stopped the 'Snan' for the Mahamandaleshwars..." he told news agency ANI.
{{/usCountry}}The administration is also asking people to make way for more devotees to take holy dip in the Sangam and to treat other ghats as equal to Sangam.
The stampede broke out after a barrier broke down due to the large crowd, said Officer on Special Duty for the Mela Akanksha Rana. "Some people have got injured and have been hospitalised after a barrier broke at the Sangam,” she told news agency PTI.
Photos: Chaos, crowd, confusion at Maha Kumbh stampede during Shahi Snan
Scores of people thronged the Triveni Sangam , the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers during the early hours of Wednesday to participate in the ‘Amrit Snan’, a holy dip and one of the most sacred events of the mela.
People recount horror
While recounting the horror of the stampede, a woman from Karnataka told PTI, "We came in a batch of 60 people in two buses, we were nine people in the group. Suddenly there was pushing in the crowd, and we got trapped. A lot of us fell down and the crowd went uncontrolled."
"There was no chance for escape, there was pushing from all sides," said another woman.
Till Tuesday, Maha Kumbh had witnessed footfall of a whopping 15 crore. On Tuesday alone, more than 4.8 crore devotees took the holy dip , a tally higher than that of Amrit Snan on Makar Sankranti, which was 3.5 crore, the UP government said. On the occasion of the Mauni Amavasya’s Amrit Snan, a footfall of 10 crore is expected, according to a PTI report.
With PTI, ANI inputs.