Lakhs take holy dip on Basant Panchami
Despite threat of Covid-19, the pilgrims turned up at Sangam in large numbers
Devotees gather at Sangam to take a holy dip on the occasion of 'Basant Panchami' during the ongoing annual 'Magh Mela', in Prayagraj on Tuesday. Mela administration claimed that over 1.5 million devotees took the holy dip in the sacred waters by 6pm.
PRAYAGRAJ: Around 1.5 million pilgrims took holy dip in Sangam on occasion of Basant Panchami which started from wee hours on Monday.
Mela administration claimed that over 1.2 million devotees took the holy dip in the sacred waters till 2pm and the numbers crossed 1.5 million by 6pm. The arrival of devotees towards Sangam nose and other ghats started since Sunday night itself and continued till late Monday evening.
Mela officer Vivek Chaturvedi said devotees took holy dip at eight ghats in mela area.
“Traffic diversions were put in place and vehicles were parked at the pre-decided parking areas located outside mela area. Over 5000 security personnel manned mela area during the bathing festival to ensure foolproof security. Close eye was kept on the events through CCTV and through drone cameras, he added.
Security personnel kept close watch in mela area on suspicious objects and persons. Police and paramilitary jawans manned the ghats, entry and exit points while LIU and Intelligence
Bureau officials also remained active at mela area.
Senior police officials including district magistrate Bhanu Chandra Goswami, ADG zone Prem Prakash, IG range KP Singh, SSP Sarvshrestha Tripathi and other officials remained active and inspected security arrangements at different ghats.
They supervised crowd management and traffic diversions while also keeping an eye on mela area from Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC).
Despite threat of Covid-19, the pilgrims turned up at Sangam in large numbers even as security personnel advised them to wear masks and follow other protocols like maintaining social distancing.
While the bathing began in the wee hours, there were hundreds of thousands sprawled across the sandy banks under the open skies, waiting for the first rays of the sun to take their plunge.
Multi-layer security and crowd management plans were in place to ensure smooth arrival and exit of devotees. Locals preferred early morning Snan and majority of them reached Sangam on foot while those from far off places reached Sangam city through trains, buses and private vehicles before trekking on foot to the ghats.