A contingent of curious shutterbugs and sleepy foreignersawait in the moist redness of the winter dawn the glimpse of the decade. Aminute or two later, from behind the mistiness of the moment appears an unrulyarmy of ash-smeared naga sadhus brandishing their swords and splashing theirway ahead into the knee-deep waters of the Ganga ” like a stud of playfulstallions crashing into waters. This is the day’s first shahi snan at the MahaKumbh mela at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh on January 14, 2013.
The largest ever fair in the world ” according toexpectations more than 10 crore people will attend the 2013 Kumbha mela ” isalso a mammoth administrative exercise for the state government to handle thishuge turnout of people at the Sangam. Right from creating the requiredinfrastructure to avoiding any kind of terrorist activity, preventing stampedesor any other type of law and order challenge, various departments of the UPadministration have once again come together to work for the smooth functioningof the mela.
The mela, which began on January 14, will go on for the nexttwo months and will conclude on Maha Shivaratri on March 10. The administrationis expecting a nearly 10 percent rise in pilgrims attending the mass Hindupilgrimage this year compared to the previous Kumbh held in 2001. Exceptionallylarge crowds are also expected on Mauni Amavasya (February 10, 3 crore) andBasant Panchmi (February 15, 1.9 crore).
More than 7,000 personnel of central paramilitary forces,including companies of the Rapid Action Force, anti-terrorist squads, anti-minesquads, sniffer dogs and a host of other specialised security men and theNational Disaster Response Force, have been pressed into service.
The Maha Kumbh area functions as an independent district and12,000 police constables, 107 traffic inspectors, 12 additional superintendentsof police, 16 assistant superintendents of police and 50 deputy superintendentsof police lead the security network apart from the central police forces whowill watch every inch of space in this area.
Pilgrims, who are camping in the sprawling Kumbh Melaground, spread over an area of about 6000 acres, have been verified by securityforces. Besides, a number of makeshift police stations and outposts have beenerected in the area which has been notified as a temporary district andprovided with the wherewithal to function as such.
The policemen have been made to undergo rigorous training ofcrowd management. They will be provided round-the-clock assistance by about4000 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary, the armed wing of UPpolice, which is known for its expertise in tackling tough situations. To keepa tab on the entire activity of the mela 85 CCTV cameras have been installed.
Also, there will be adequate deployment of police personnelat all the 38 bathing ghats along the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. It has beenensured that that the police personnel deployed there is expert divers andswimmers and are able to react quickly and effectively in case of an emergency.
The security set-up passed the first litmus test fairly wellon day one when nearly 10 million people took the first dip. This number isexpected to go up to 100 million devotees who will gather over the next 55 daysto take the ritual bath in the holy Sangam, believed to cleanse sins and bestowblessings.
There is a massive increase in the amount of infrastructurecreated this year. The Public Works Department has established 18 pontoonbridges and has made 156.2 kilometre-long roads for the occasion. In 2001, thelength of roads constructed stood at 96.4 kilometre, while 13 pontoon bridgeswere put up.
The Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam has laid down nearly 550-kmwater pipelines and given 20,000 connections for the convenience of thevisitors, while in previous Kumbh, the length of pipelines and number ofconnections stood at 340 kilometres and 15,430 respectively. As many as 40tubewells in comparison to 28 in 2001 would function this time, while approximately80,000 kilolitres of drinking water would be available, up from previous tallyof 56,000 kilolitres.
In association with Governance Now
