U’khand govt gears up for shahi snans at Mahakumbh

With the state recording its highest single-day spike this year on Sunday with 1,333 cases, Uttarakhand government is preparing itself for the two Shahi Snans (royal holy baths) on Monday and Wednesday amid the ongoing Haridwar Mahakumbh.

To ensure the implementation of the Covid-related standard operating procedures (SOPs), the Haridwar administration officials said they would emphasise on the strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocol including mandatory RT-PCR negative test report and a medical certificate on the lines of Amarnath Yatra and Kailash Yatra as directed the Nainital high court.

The state police in the Mela area claimed to have made “adequate arrangements” for the devotees for the Shahi Snaans which would officially be the first two royal baths after the official notification of Mahakumbh on April 1 by the state government.

Inspector general, Mahakumbh, Sanjay Gunjyal, said, “Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will witness three major Snans in the Mahakumbh including two Shahi Snans on Monday and Wednesday respectively. Tuesday will have one significant Snan day to mark the occasion of Navsampat. However, of all the three, the biggest one would be on Wednesday on the occasion of Baisakhi when all 13 akhadas will take the holy dip in Ganga.”

Gunjyal said, “Expecting the number of devotees to increase during these three days, security force has been increased in the Mela area and about 20,000 personnel from both state police and Central paramilitary forces personnel would be deployed to ensure safe and secure Shahi Snans.”

Stressing on the “strict adherence” to Covid-19 related protocol, he said, “As it has been already implemented, no devotee would be allowed to enter Mahakumbh without mandatory Covid-19 RT-PCR negative test report with a validity of 72 hours, medical certificate stating that his/her immunity is not compromised and online registration on government portal.”

The death toll in the state touched 1,760 with eight more deaths on Sunday, which is also the highest number of fatalities in a dayso far this year. The biggest surge has taken the total number of Covid-19 cases in the state to 1,08,812 of which 97,887 people have recovered. The active cases in the state have also increased to 7,323of which maximum 3,110 are in Dehradun followed by 2,056 in Haridwar and 754 in Nainital district.

Chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Sunday evening also said that the adminstration “has made all the arrangements” for the Shahi Snans in the next three days.

“The first Shahi Snan was held peacefully without any issues in March. This time also we are prepared to ensure that two Shahi Snans are held peacefully and safely in the same way,” said Rawat. As per the Hindu calendar, the first Shahi snan was held on the occasion of Mahashivratri in March 11 in which about 3.3 million people took the holy dip in Ganga.

The CM said, “While ensuring that no devotee would be harassed unnecessarily in the name of Covid-19 restrictions, we would strictly adhere to the Covid-19 protocol for the Mahakumbh. We have arranged enough masks and hand sanitisers with the help of Centre in the Mahakumbh and have no dearth of other resources as well.”

Earlier in the day, Narendra Giri, president of Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad, the apex body of all the 13 akhadas tested positive for the virus in Haridwar and therefore, won’t be able to take part in the major holy bath on Monday.

Meanwhile, the apex body has assured adherence of Covid-19 SOP including Covid tests of all the seers, who met Giri in the last few days. The mela administration would also conduct RT-PCR tests of Giri’s contacts including Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, who had met him on Sunday morning during his visit to Mahakumbh.