Tuesday, February 11th, 2025

World’s largest religious event, will create 4 world records, read the story of Mahakumbh

New Delhi: The world’s largest religious event Mahakumbh is starting in Prayagraj. For the next 45 days, crores of people will take a dip in the Sangam for a holy bath. This Mahakumbh is special in many ways, which includes large-scale preparations, security arrangements and many new events.

Prayagraj will host the world’s largest gathering

Prayagraj, earlier known as Allahabad, will host the world’s largest gathering of people from tomorrow. A temporary district spread over 4 thousand hectares has been created at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the legendary Saraswati, where crores of devotees from India and abroad will come for the holy bath for the next 45 days. A budget of about Rs 12,670 crore has been kept for this Mahakumbh, in which both the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments together have completed more than 410 projects. This 45 days will be a big test for the administration, where they will have to face challenges like power-water supply, waste management, security, crowd control, traffic management and emergency services.

The event is held once in 12 years

Maha Kumbh, earlier called Purna Kumbh, is held once every 12 years. In January 2018, the Uttar Pradesh government passed a law changing the name of Purna Kumbh to Maha Kumbh. Similarly, the Ardh Kumbh held every six years was named Kumbh Mela. In the same year, the name of Allahabad was changed to Prayagraj.

Kumbh will run till 26th February

This Maha Kumbh will be held from January 13 to February 26, but devotees have already started reaching the Sangam and many will stay there even after the fair is over. Therefore, the temporary tent city built on the banks of Ganga and Yamuna has been equipped to last for more than one and a half months.

40 crore people will take a dip in Sangam

The administration claims that about 40 crore people can come to Mahakumbh. This is approximately one fourth of the total population of India. If this estimate proves correct, it means that an average of 90 lakh people will come to Mahakumbh every day. Even if the actual number is less, it will still be a huge crowd. Maintaining 24×7 power and water supply to such a large number of people, disposing of waste, taking care of security, managing crowd and traffic and providing emergency and medical services will be a huge challenge. Hundreds died in a stampede in 1954, a tragic reminder of how wrong things can go. However, a lot of time has passed since then and the administration has learned many lessons.

People’s convenience has been taken care of

Vijay Kiran Anand, DM of Mahakumbh Nagar (the name of the newly created district), said, ‘We have taken all these aspects into consideration and are ready for the challenge. We are trying to ensure that people coming to the fair face minimum inconvenience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also visited the fair area and taken stock of the preparations for the Mahakumbh.

More than 13 thousand trains will run

During the period of the fair, more than 13 thousand trains and 250 flights will be available to connect Prayagraj with the rest of the country. One day trips to Varanasi and Ayodhya can also be made. To see Ganga Aarti, river cruise facility will also be available on the lines of Varanasi. More than 100 parking spaces that can accommodate five lakh cars have been created. 100 guides capable of communicating in multiple languages ​​will be available in all 25 sectors of the new district.

Medical facilities also in the fair

One 100-bed hospital, two sub-centre hospitals with 20 beds each and 25 medical centers have been set up. 125 ambulances will be on standby. This time more than 50 thousand policemen have been deployed as compared to 12 thousand policemen deployed in the last fair, 2013. For example, the presence of 50 thousand policemen is double the size of the police force of a state like Uttarakhand. There will be 56 police stations, three police lines and three traffic police lines in the mela area.

You can get information from the app

If you are visiting the fair, download the KumbhSahAIyak app. It contains route maps and other useful information for visitors. Nearly a thousand AI-enabled cameras have been installed across the city to provide real-time traffic updates. More than 30 thousand CCTV cameras have also been installed to help in crowd control.

Many celebrities will also be present in Kumbh

Many prominent artists and celebrities like Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher, Sonu Nigam, Vishal Bhardwaj, Shreya Ghoshal, Jubin Nautiyal, Richa Sharma, Hema Malini, Ashutosh Rana, Ravi Kishan will perform at the fair. Recitals and sessions will also be organized by poets, classical singers, dancers, musicians, writers and lyricists.

Organizers of Mahakumbh try to make four world records

  • The biggest parade of electric vehicles.
  • The biggest river cleaning campaign.
  • The largest number of handprint paintings made within eight hours.
  • The largest synchronized sweeping operation conducted anywhere in the world.

The city walls are being made beautiful

Apart from this, Project Beautify Prayagraj is going on. Artists from different parts of the country have worked on the wall art of the city. Street lights will also be arranged on 24 major roads of the city. The routes connecting the Sangam area to the airport and railway station have been completely renovated.

Work done in collaboration with IIT Guwahati

In 2019, the Kumbh Mela was held on these same river banks. But later the strong river currents washed away parts of the adjacent bathing ghat. The challenge was to recreate it. The fair officials worked with experts from IIT Guwahati. The Irrigation Department was entrusted with the task of merging three streams of water separated by sand dunes into one.

Apart from this, seven lakh cubic meters of sand was extracted from the fair site, which can fill 187 Olympic size swimming pools. After extracting this sand, 26 hectares of land was freed to be converted into bathing ghats. The length of the ghat has increased to 12 km for the Maha Kumbh compared to 8 km in 2019. The department has also rehabilitated the confluence point where the rivers meet.

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