The 45-day long Mahakumbh Mela, hailed as the world’s biggest fair, is all set to begin on the banks of the Ganga river in Prayagraj from Monday (13th January) with an estimated footfall of 45 crore people, including seers, saints and others from different parts of the country and abroad.
Spread on around four thousand hectares of land and divided into 25 sectors, this year’s Mahakumbh is being considered to be very auspicious as, according to the astrologers, there is going to be a rare celestial alignment happening after 144 years.
Shahi Snan Dates
The Mahakumbh will begin with the first ‘Shahi Snan’ (bathing) in the ‘Sangam’ (the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Sarswati rivers) taking place on ‘Paush Poornima’ on Monday.
The first ‘Shahi Snan’ (royal bath) will take place on the occasion of ‘Makar Sankranti’ on Tuesday (January 14th) in which an estimated seven crore devotees are expected to take the holy dip in the ‘Sangam’ waters.
The other two ‘Shahi Snans’ will take place on the occasion of ‘Mauni Amavasya’ on January 29th and ‘Basant Panchami’ on February 3rd. The fair would conclude on ‘Mahashivratri’ on February 26th.
Facilities/Accommodations
The sprawling tent city on the sandy banks of the Ganga is almost filled with devotees, saints, seers and ascetics and the ‘Kalpavasis’ (devotees who spend around one month at the Kumbh and follow a disciplined religious life).
The pontoon bridges and the chequered plate roads were teeming with the devotees, who kept arriving round-the-clock from different parts of the country to be part of the fair.
The Mela administration has made elaborate arrangements for a smooth conduct of the fair and unprecedented security arrangements were put in place in the Mela area as well as in the Prayagraj town and nearby places.
Every sector has a 20-bed hospital besides a central hospital for providing quick medical facilities to the devotees.
More than 300 deep divers have been stationed on the 50 bathing ghats to deal with any emergency during the bathing. Four water ambulances have also been deployed in the Mela area.
Safety/Security
UP police chief Prashant Kumar said that a seven-layered security system has been put in place in the Mahakumbh with deployment of the NSG commandos and security personnel from 70 districts.
AI driven cameras, drones and anti-drone systems were being installed in the fair for effective monitoring of the crowd.
Fifteen thousand jawans of the civil police were deployed in the Mahakumbh besides spotters to keep a watcho n suspicious people.
