Sangam set to see highest single-day turnout on Mauni Amavasya
Prayagraj bursting at the seams ahead of Mauni Amavasya; around 4 crore pilgrims jostling for space in tent city as admin expects 8 to 10 crore crowd on January 29
MAHAKUMBH NAGAR With an anticipated crowd of 8 to 10 crore (80 to 100 million) devotees on the banks of Sangam, the Mauni Amavasya snan, the second of the three Amrit snans on January 29 in Mahakumbh, is set to be the world’s biggest-ever human congregation for a single event in a single day.
Prayagraj is witnessing an unprecedented surge of devotees ahead of the snan as around 4 crore devotees are said to be jostling for space in 4,000 hectares of the sprawling tent city. On Monday, all 48 ghats on the 12-km stretch of the Sangam area were packed to capacity as over a crore people bathed in a span of just 18 hours during the day. Between 12 noon and 2pm, 20.97 lakh devotees took the holy dip, bringing the hourly average to 10.48 lakh. Till 6pm, 1.18 crore devotees took the holy dip, stated records.
Nearly 60 lakh people are present in the Mela area while around 1.50 crore is the floating population. Another 10 lakh Kalpwasis are camping and bathing in different sectors of the Mela, stated ADM (Mahakumbh) Vivek Chaturvedi.
The pilgrim influx at Mahakumbh Nagar is swelling in unexpected proportions with each passing hour spelling tough times for the Mela managers. Mahakumbh officials have announced stringent measures to prevent any mishap - like declaring the Mela area as a no-vehicle zone besides implementing zonal plan for bathers making devotees use ghats in their respective zones and not proceed up to the Sangam for the holy dip.
As per records, the largest-ever peaceful gathering of people in the world at one place for a single event was for the Mauni Amavasya snan on February 4, 2019, where 5 crore (50 million) people took the holy dip at the Sangam in a day.
“Devotees started arriving in the Mela area 2-3 days before Mauni Amavasya. This influx rate is not matching with the exit rate of devotees. Bathing is being closely monitored and measures being taken accordingly,” added the ADM.
Between January 25 and 26, a whopping 1.74 crore pilgrims took the holy dip, bringing the hourly average to 7.25 lakh. Till January 25, 11.47 crore people had bathed in Sangam waters, which swelled to 13.21 crore on January 26, stated official records.
As per officials, the Mela area towards the Sangam was nearly full to capacity, and after blocking movement on all pontoon bridges, a similar situation was developing on the other side of Ganga having camps of nearly 1,000 religious organizations, besides the 13 monastic orders.
