Mahakumbh: Fervour peaks in second half of Mela, chokes routes

The Mahakumbh-2025 is witnessing the surprising trend of a rise in devotee count in its second half even after three Amrit Snans, putting pressure on the national and state highways connecting Prayagraj to the neighbouring districts Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Kaushambi, Sultanpur and Bhadohi (all in Uttar Pradesh) and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.

Almost all routes are clogged with vehicles even as police and security personnel are on their toes to ensure order.

Posing a challenge to the Mahakumbh administration, over a crore devotees are bathing every day at 48 bathing ghats in the Mela area.

As many as 43.57 crore (435.7 million) devotees bathed in the sacred waters in Prayagraj since the start of the Mahakumbh on January 13 (Paush Purnima).

On Monday alone, 1.10 crore devotees took the holy dip, according to the Mela authorities. With the Maghi Purnima snan on Wednesday (February 12), officials have braced themselves for an acid test of the arrangements.

While the first half of the 45-day fair witnessed a huge inflow of devotees from rural areas across the country, the second half is seeing a big influx of the faithful, mainly from middle class and upper middle-class backgrounds arriving in Prayagraj in their own vehicles instead of the public transport. Yet, they remain unfazed.

Take the case of 103-year-old Ramela Devi, a resident of Barabanki. She has come all the way for the ‘Punya ki Dupki’ (Dip of Salvation), braving all the traffic snarls and age-related issues.

Leaning on a stick, she exudes enthusiasm for having finally reached the Sangam after two days of travel by road with her family members walking by her side.

“Ganga Maiyya has called and I am here,” she said. Her great-grandson Anit Tiwari said that she had been insisting on going for a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya but somehow was counselled to stay back, citing overcrowding as the reason before finally the family deciding on heading to Prayagraj. She had come to Prayagraj (then Allahabad) during the 2001 and 2013 Mahakumbh as well.

Madhusudan Tiwari, resident of Kashmiri Gate ISBT, Delhi, along with his wife, two sons, brother-in-law Avnish Shukla and his three-year-old son, reached Mahakumbh Nagar on Saturday morning in a car after nearly two days of travel.

Citing heavy crowd, the police got the car parked in Malaka. On the way, the family got stuck in traffic jams at several places.

Madhusudan said bikers were demanding ?700 per person for taking them to the Mela area from Malaka. Madhusudan, along with his wife and children, walked seven kilometres and bathed at the Sangam.

Ramesh Bhai, resident of Sidhpur village of Patan district in Gujarat, left for Prayagraj with his friends in a car on Saturday (February 8) morning and reached Ghurpur in Prayagraj on Monday afternoon.

He said the nearly 1000 kilometres could normally be covered in 24 hours but even after over two days, he was till on the outskirts of Prayagraj. The traffic jam worsened from Jabalpur onwards in Madhya Pradesh while on way to Prayagraj, he added.

Balon Bhai, esident of Surat, Gujarat, said the police stopped his vehicle at many places.He also said he had to pay double the amount for purchasing mineral water and other eatables as shop owners on highway were also cashing in on the situation.

Owing to the excessive devotee rush, Prayagraj residents are facing severe traffic bottlenecks.

Anil Srivastava, owner of a group of institutions in Naini area of the city, said, “We are still in the welcoming mode for whoever is arriving, but seeing them suffer is painful. The police are trying their best to streamline movement of devotees on clogged streets, the overcrowded shuttle buses are moving but are unable to cope with the devotee pressure arriving from all sides with each passing hour.” The residents of neighbouring districts are stranded for hours together sharing video-reels of queue of vehicles on social media platforms.

Traffic jam on Rewa-Prayagraj highway for the last four days has continued to torment devotees as well as area residents. The situation is said to be worse near Gauhania Over Bridge, where both Rewa and Chitrakoot highways meet. Long queues of vehicles can be seen on both the highways. A similar situation was also witnessed on UP-MP border near Chakghat, besides on the Naini-Mirzapur route. Gaurav, who is on way to Mahakumbh with his family, has shared a reel of the jam on social media.

More enthusiasm now

than on Paush Purnima

As per official data,1.57 crore people had taken bath by 8 pm on Sunday as against 1.65 crore having took the dip on Paush Purnima, first bathing day of Mahakumbh. By 8 pm on Sunday, 43.57 crore had taken the ritual bath as against the maximum official estimates of 45 crore for the entire Mela period.

Mela officials, who were not willing to be named, revealed that the current trend indicates that the count of footfalls could cross the 60-crore (600 million) mark by the time the Mela concludes on Maha Shivratri on February 26.

Plans to ease chaos

In view of the huge crowd of devotees, the police administration strictly followed the one-way plan in the old city area. Barricading was done at many places.

Holding areas

Several parking zones and holding areas have been planned as part of crowd management at entry points of Prayagraj.

Pontoon bridges closed

The Mela administration has closed all 30 pontoon bridges with the aim to not let devotees not cross over to the Sangam Nose from other parts of the Mela. Also, the zonal bathing plan, earlier put in place till the last Amrit Snan of Basant Panchami, has been extended till the Mela ends on February 26.

Official speak

“The number of devotees is very high. Devotees are coming to Sangam daily. It is our responsibility to provide safe bath to everyone. All plans are being implemented for this,” said Mahakumbh Nagar district magistrate Vijay Kiran Anand.

‘Security personnel have been directed to stay on alert. All officials are working round the clock to ensure that the flow of traffic and crowd remains best managed,” DIG (Mahakumbh) Vaibh Krishna said.