Norms go for a toss as millions throng shahi snan amid surge

Dehradun/Haridwar:

On the first official date of the shahi snans (holy bath) in the ongoing Mahakumbh at Haridwar, 2.3 million devotees gathered to take a dip in the Ganges, with next to no social distancing, poor adherence to mask discipline, and patchy enforcement of guidelines such as every bather needing to be registered -- all of which were flagged by experts as a significant cause for concern amid a second wave of the Coronavirus disease that is surging through the country.

The administrators in charge of the mela did not enforce social distancing guidelines citing the huge numbers.

“It is difficult to ensure social distancing during shahi snan when lakhs of seers and pilgrims are at one specific Ganga ghat. Strict measures may lead to a stampede like situation,” said Sanjay Gunjiyal, inspector general, Mela force.

He added that “we are ensuring pilgrims wear masks, sanitise and safely take holy Ganga dip and return to their base,” but many people heading for the ghat were not sporting masks.

It is also not clear how many of the devotees possessed RT-PCR test reports showing they tested negative for the virus, although Gunjiyal claimed that the police has enforced this and ensured anyone entering the state from April 1 has such a report. The requirement, he added, will last till April 30.

Mahant Hari Giri, general secretary of the apex body of seers, Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad said: “They tried to follow the (Covid) protocol but couldn’t due to large numbers. However, many of them have already taken the vaccine and undertaken Covid-19 tests”

On Monday, the first official Shahi Snan or royal holy bath after the month long Mahakumbh was notified by the state government on April 1, devotees gathered to take holy dip in the Ganga in huge numbers, with most not wearing masks.

Most police and health officials chose not to act against the devotees. On March 20, chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat said that “no devotees will be unnecessarily harassed in the name of Covid-19 restrictions but the government will ensure a strict implementation of all the necessary precautions.”

That they would not be able to maintain this balance became evident during the religious procession of seers from the 13 akhadas in the morning; the seers chose not to wear masks and did not practice social distancing.

To be sure, health officials were seen stopping devotees (other than the seers) minus face masks and handing over free masks to them.

Expressing “grave” concern over such a large congregation of people at one place Dr DD Chowdhury, national vice president of Indian Medical Association (IMA), who has been also treating Covid-19 patients since the outbreak of pandemic last year in Uttarakhand, said,”it is absolutely shocking and unfortunate that such a large number of people were allowed to gather in Haridwar Mahakumbh. It will spell trouble for the country in next few days in this health emergency. “

There is another shahi snan on Wednesday, and Dr Chowdhury estimates that by the end of that, Haridwar would have seen 5 million people taking a dip over three days. Only seers and VIPs should have been allowed, he added. He said he feared that the devotees may become “ responsible for spreading the virus in various parts of the country when they return to their home.”

IG Gunjiyal said the police did try to check the Covid negative reports of the devotees but that this was impossible to do. “People without registration were allowed to enter after getting their Covid tests done,” he said, admitting that nobody was turned away .

Meanwhile, social activist Anoop Nautiyal said: “Not only the social distancing is not being maintained in the mega event, the health department has also failed to meet the Covid-19 testing target of 50,000 as directed by the Nainital High Court.”

Nautiyal said, “At present the average number of tests each day in the mela area since April 1 is 17,529 which is not even half the target of 50,000. On Sunday, the number was 19966 and on Saturday it was 20451.”

“On paper the government will show that they implemented all the norms the ground reality is absolutely opposite to that,” he said.

But district chief medical officer SK Jha countered these claims: “We are taking test samples of devotees each day which includes both Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR test. On Sunday, we took 58,000 test samples and during Monday’s shahi snan, we took 30,000 samples till 1pm.”

The impact of the Mahakumbh, which threatens to become a super spreader event will be felt most in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, from where most of the devotees come, said Dr Chowdhury. All of these “should issue a red alert in their states , keep data of all their residents coming back from these shahi snans and put them in quarantine for seven days as soon as they return.”

“The states should also conduct Rapid Antigen test, if not RT-PCR test of all these people to check the spread “.