The most auspicious Amavasya’s Amrit snan is on Wednesday but two days ago a huge crowd has turned out for bathing.
Million of devotees broke the barricading on Monday evening in Mahakumbh and went inside the fair. The crowd was so big that even the police could not show the courage to stop the people.
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Actually, on January 29, there is a bath festival of Mauni Amavasya, which is said to be an auspicious day coming after 144 years. Devotees have already started arriving to take a dip in the confluence on this festival and this has caused a huge crowd.
According to officials, traffic from Pantoon bridges was stopped when the crowd increased. Due to this, apart from Sangam, there was more crowd of devotees at Airavat Ghat in Jhunsi Zone.
The Shastri Bridge was full of devotees and even walking was difficult. This situation remained up to Andawa intersection.
Similar was the situation on the other roads leading to Sangam. Due to the increase in traffic the movement on Jawaharlal Nehru Marg was stopped from Balsan intersection during the day. The bathing people were sent to Sangam via Georgetown, Allapur, Bakshi Dam. Such diversions were performed from place to place.
Sources said the fair area was completely overcrowded with devotees. Sangam, Nagbasuki and Jhunsi were crowded with bathing people on every route of the three zones. Even walking on the river front road towards Jhunsi was difficult. Whereas, on normal days, people were coming and going in their vehicles. Most of the devotees coming from Jhunsi side were dropped at the fair area before Shastri Bridge. Most of these people wanted to go to Sangam but were disappointed due to restrictions on traffic on the pontoon bridge. There was resentment among the devotees regarding this.
Sources said four days before the Mouni Amavasya bathing festival, enthusiasm started appearing among the people and on Sunday and Monday, the crowd was more than expected.
It can be estimated from this that according to the data of the administration, more than 30 million people took a bath in these two days. Out of these, 1.74 crore devotees took a bath on Sunday. At the same time, 1.18 crore people took a bath by 6 pm on Monday.
The government expects 40 to 45 crore people to take bath in Mahakumbh. This figure also seems to be touching. According to the data of the fair administration, the total number of bathers is expected to cross 15 crore in a single day on Mauni Amavasya. Till Sunday, 13.21 crore people had taken bath. More than one crore people took a bath on Monday and more than one crore people are expected to bath on Tuesday before Mauni Amavasya. In such a situation, the total number of bathing people is expected to cross 15 crores a day before Mauni Amavasya.
Sources said on Monday, all the 30 pontoon bridges built in the Mahakumbh area were closed. There was deep anger among the devotees regarding this. By making an announcement, the devotees were told that after taking bath, they should return back on the same route from where they are coming to the fair, the pontoon bridge is closed and do not try to cross other side. This system has been implemented for the safety of devotees.
