Over 1.5 million take holy dip at Gangasagar

SAGAR ISLAND, West Bengal: Over 1.5 million pilgrims from across India and abroad braved the icy cold water and chilly winds to take a holy dip in the river Ganga on Saturday at the annual Gangasagar Fair here on Makar Sankranti.

“Almost 16 lakh people bathed at Sagar since morning, far surpassing the attendance last year. Lakhs took the holy dip on Friday evening as well. The fair has been a huge success,” Panchayat and Public Health Engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.

About 150 km from Kolkata in South 24 Parganas district, this island is considered auspicious by the Hindus, who gather here at this time of the year to take a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal and pray by offering a coconut at the Kapil Muni temple.

The Ganga Sagar Mela is rated as the second largest assembly of people after the quadrennial Kumbha Mela (fair). The devout believe that a dip in the sacred water at this time washes off sins of a lifetime.

“The attendance was relatively higher this year as a lot of fairs that are otherwise arranged at this time of the year could not be properly organised amid the cash crisis. “The administration has taken necessary measures to tackle the large crowd,” Mukherjee said.

“We built 20,000 stationary toilets with proper markings at the Mela premises, 5,000 more than 2016 and arranged three volunteers for every 20 toilets to ensure the pilgrims use them properly,” he added.

On the second coldest day of the season in West Bengal, the huge number of pilgrims, both young and the old and representing all sections of the society, gathered at the riverbank of Sagar Island to take the holy dip. The enthusiasm appeared infectious. “We come here every year with all the family members. Who wants to let go of the chance to witness such a spectacle,” said veteran Anup Maiti,, who came to bathe here all the way from Nadia district with three generations of his family.