Nearly 2 crore pilgrims take holy dip on Mauni Amavasya
PRAYAGRAJ : Millions of pilgrims made the most of a sunny day to take a dip in the holy waters of Sangam on occasion of Mauni Amavasya on Tuesday. The crowd of devotees was far bigger than what the religious fair witnessed since it took off on Makar Sankranti on January 14/15. Mela administration claimed that between 12 midnight of Monday and 12 noon on Tuesday, over 8 million (80 lakh) devotees took the holy dip in the sacred waters and the numbers crossed 14.5 million by 4pm.
This was besides the 5 million pilgrims who took the dip between 8pm and 12 midnight of Monday as per their own faith and astrological beliefs. The arrival of devotees towards Sangam nose and other ghats started since Sunday night and continued till late on Tuesday. Despite pandemic threat, the pilgrims turned up at Sangam in large numbers even as security personnel advised them to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
For the ordinary pilgrim, the dip was the fulfilment of a longcherished desire. While the bathing began in early hours, there were hundreds of thousands of devotees across the sandy banks under the open skies waiting for the first rays of the sun to take their plunge even as others went ahead and did so in the night itself.
“The most auspicious time begins with the break of dawn. We don’t mind waiting the night here. it will be worthwhile,” said Madhumati, a 66-year-old woman who had trooped in along with her family members from a village in Kanpur district.
All of them had only thin shawls as protection against the unkind weather and squatted on the cold sands, chanting hymns to keep themselves warm and awake. A multi-layer security and crowd management plans were in place to ensure smooth arrival and exit of devotees who had arrived from every corner of the country.
Local pilgrims preferred early morning “snan” (bathing) and majority of them reached Sangam on foot braving fog while those from far off places reached Sangam city through trains, buses and private vehicles. Senior officials, including divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal, district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri, IG range Rakesh Singh, SSP Ajay Kumar, superintendent of police (mela) Rajiv Narayan Mishra and others remained active and inspected security arrangements at different ghats. They supervised crowd management and traffic diversions while also keeping an eye on mela area at Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC).
Mela area and at many prominent crossings in the city, “Bhandaras” (community feast) and “Prasad” distribution by locals, organisations and seers were organised all through the day. Special arrangements were made at Prayagraj junction and other railway stations for smooth movement of pilgrims.
Meanwhile, security personnel kept a close watch in mela area on suspicious objects and people. Police and paramilitary jawans manned the ghats, entry and exit points while LIU and IB officials also remained active in mela area.
Mela Adhikari Arvind Kumar Chauhan said devotees took holy dip at 10 ghats in the mela area. Traffic diversions were put in place and vehicles were parked at the pre-decided parking lots located outside mela area. Over 5000 security personnel manned mela area during Mauni Amavasya to ensure foolproof security. Close eye was kept on the events through CCTV and drone cameras.