Mahakumbh Mela Thousands take holy dip during 3rd Amrit Snan
   Date :04-Feb-2025

Mahakumbh Mela Thousands
 Flower petals being showered on devotees gathered to take a holy dip at the Sangam on the occasion of Basant Panchami during the ongoing Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj on Monday. (PTI)
 
By Kishor Dwivedi
 
MAHAKUMBH NAGAR :
 
MILLIONS of people from across the globe converged at the Sangam from break of dawn on Monday for the third grand ‘Amrit Snan’ of the Mahakumbh, the ritual holy dip on Basant Panchami starting smoothly and proceeding without a hitch. The bathing ritual assumed special significance as it came days after a stampede during the previous ‘Amrit Snan’ on Mauni Amavasya (January 29) killed at least 30 people and left 60 others injured. Unlike the Mauni Amavasya dip on January 29 when crowd pressure built up at the Sangam Nose, many devotees this time were seen taking bath at different ghats as the Uttar Pradesh Government, shaken by the deadly stampede, adopted a “zero errors” approach.
 
Determined to prevent any untoward incident, the state Government has reinforced the security and crowd management measures in Sangam area, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath monitoring the situation from his official residence in Lucknow, officials said. DIG (Mahakumbh) Vaibhav Krishna told PTI Videos that in light of the stampede, additional force has been deployed at the pressure points for crowd management. “Everything is running smoothly today,” he said during a pre-dawn patrolling in the Mela area. Later in the morning, the DIG and some other senior officers went around the Mela area on horseback to assess crowd management.
 
“Our crowd management has been good today, which is visible. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere yet. Additional deployment has been made at the pressure points. The Amrit Snan is progressing smoothly as per order,” Krishna said. By 10 am, over 81.24 lakh devotees had taken dip in the Sangam, the state Government said, adding that it expects a footfall of around five crore pilgrims on Monday alone. At break of dawn, seers from various Akharas, including the ash-smeared Naga sadhus, began their ceremonial journey towards the Triveni Sangam -- the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. By 10 am, several Akharas (monastic orders) had completed their bath while the process was going on smoothly for the others, officials said.