The Maghi Purnima snan began early Wednesday as thousands of devotees thronged the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj to take a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam. So far over 65 lakh devotees have already taken a dip on the occasion of Maghi Purnima, which marks the conclusion of the month-long Kalpvas.
Kalpvas is an integral tradition of the Maha Kumbh, which involves living near the Sangam area, adhering to fasting, self-discipline, introspection and spiritual purification. This year over 10 lakh devotees undertook Kalpvas.
The administration has made extensive preparations for the Maghi Purnima bathing festival as around two crore devotees are expected to take a bath today at various ghats.
Tight security arrangements have been made at the bathing ghats with Artificial intelligence technology being used for crowd management. Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), paramilitary forces, ATS, STF, and NSG commandos have been deployed as part of the comprehensive security measures to ensure smooth departure of the devotees.
The Kalpvasis have been asked to follow the traffic rules and use only authorised parking spaces. To avoid traffic chaos, designated parking lots have been marked for public and private vehicles.
Water police, divers, flood company PAC, NDRF, and SDRF have also been stationed at the bathing ghats. The ghats are under surveillance through CCTV cameras and drones.
The fair area was declared a ‘no vehicle zone’ from 4 AM onwards on Tuesday. According to an official statement, the rule was to be applied to the entire city from 5 PM onwards, with an exemption for emergency and essential services.
Kumbh SSP Rajesh Dwivedi said that the movement of devotees is going on smoothly and we are taking care of all (crowd) pressure points.
The Uttar Pradesh government said on Tuesday that only 14 days are left for the Maha Kumbh to end and that more than 45 crore people have taken a dip since the grand event began on January 13.
The Maha Kumbh will conclude on February 26 with the final Amrit Snan on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
