Ahead of Maaghi Purnima, a huge crowd of devotees is gathering to take a holy dip in the Prayagraj Mahakumbh due to which the whole city is jammed. Since Sunday, the footfall has been such that people have been stuck in the jam for several hours to cover a distance of 20 minutes.
The roads are so packed that the neighbouring state Madhya Pradesh had to close the roads to Prayagraj. The highway to MP’s Rewa from Katni, Maihar and Jabalpur has been closed and CM Mohan Yadav has directed the authorities to facilitate those who are stuck.
On Sunday, traffic was disrupted for several kilometres on all the routes of the Mahakumbh fair in Prayagraj. Because of the massive influx, Prayagraj Sangam Railway Station was also closed.
According to the data released by the fair administration, more than 43.57 crore devotees have taken a dip in the Sangam from January 13 to February 9.
What did Traffic ADCP say?
Traffic ADCP Kuldeep Singh said, “The number of vehicles is very high and the passengers are trying to reach as soon as possible. Due to this, there is a long jam and because of the massive crowd, we have to implement a strategy akin to Mauni Amavasya.” He said almost the crowd was the same as it was on Mauni Amavasya. The distance parking was 50 per cent full. The nearest parking is small, while the far parking is big, yet vehicles are lined up, he added.
Parkings breach threshold
He said that the capacity of IERT and Baghada parking (near the fair area) can accommodate four to five thousand vehicles, while the far parking like Nehru Park and Bela Kachhar can accommodate 20-25 thousand vehicles.
Local people’s vehicles do not run on the snan day, but now all types of vehicles are running, he added. Singh said that in the last (2019) Kumbh, especially on normal days, there was not so much crowd, but this time such a huge crowd is coming on normal days. He also said that there is no possibility of the crowd of devotees decreasing for the next few days.
Prayag Sangam station closed due to crowd
Meanwhile, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Northern Railway), Lucknow Kuldeep Tiwari said that the passengers were facing difficulty in getting out of the station and hence it was decided to close Prayagraj Sangam station. Now passengers will have to go to Prayagraj Junction to catch their train. Railway officials said that the station would be reopened after the crowd is controlled.
The administration has appealed to the passengers to follow the instructions. Running additional trains was also being considered for the convenience of the devotees.
Railway makes arrangements
In view of the huge crowd of devotees coming to Mahakumbh 2025, North Central Railway has implemented a single-direction movement system at Prayagraj Junction station till further orders. Amit Malviya, Senior Public Relations Officer, North Central Railway gave information.
- For the safety and convenience of passengers, entry will be given only from the city side (towards platform number 1) and exit will be only from the ‘Civil Lines’ side.
- Passengers with unreserved tickets will be given entry from the direction-wise passenger shelter.
- Ticketing arrangements will be in the form of unreserved ticket counters, ATVMs and mobile ticketing at passenger shelters.
- Similarly, passengers with reserved tickets will be given entry from gate number five and they will be allowed to go to the platform half an hour before the arrival of the train.
