LUCKNOW: Millions of devotees continue to crowd all roads leading to the Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj, even after the completion of three Amrit Snans (holy dips at the Triveni Sangam) on Makarsankranti, Mauni Amavasya and Basant Panchami.
Roadways connecting the popular religious destinations of Ayodhya and Kashi are severely congested; Prayagraj is witnessing record-breaking congregations of devotees with each passing day.
Over the past 27 days, an average of 1.44 crore devotees a day have entered the Mela premises to take a holy dip. As on Monday afternoon, over 44.5 crore devotees had already taken the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam since the Mahakumbh was inaugurated on January 13.
The unprecedented rush of devotees from across India and abroad has resulted in a 300-km-long traffic jam paralysing Prayagraj and adjoining areas. The sudden surge in devotees meant that travellers spent 15-20 hours in vehicles stuck in traffic, miles away from their destination.
As per the official sources, a total of 14 lakh four-wheelers entered Prayagraj during the weekend.
The people heading to Prayagraj are taking 4-5 times longer to reach the destination. Due to traffic, the 6-7 hour journey from Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur to Prayagraj is now a whole day's worth of travel. Similarly, the 2.5 hour long journey between Prayagraj and Varanasi is now taking nine hours.
According to eyewitnesses, there were massive traffic jams across a 250-km stretch from Katni to the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border in Rewa’s Chakghat area.
Even the video of MP police were going viral on social media urging the pilgrims to go back to their places instead of getting stuck up in the massive traffic jams owing to the overcrowding of Prayagraj.
In response to the severe road congestion, BJP national president and Union Health minister JP Nadda has requested UP and MP party workers to assist the administration in streamlining the traffic besides making adequate food and healthcare arrangements for the devotees reaching Mahakumbh.
In addition to other measures, the railway authorities of the region have decided to extend the single-direction movement plan at railway stations in and around Prayagraj to ensure smooth and safe travel for devotees.
As per Northern Central Railway PRO Amit Singh, the plan has been drawn considering the huge crowd of passengers arriving at Prayagraj daily. The measure aims at preventing congestion and streamlining the passenger movement.
Moreover, the civil police, taxis auto, buses and e-rickshaws have been asked to adhere to the single-direction plan for seamless transit of the devotees.
Such was the rush of devotees on Sunday that the railway authorities were forced to implement the emergency plan of Mauni Amavasya Amrit Snan at Prayagraj junction. The Sangam station has been closed from February 9 till February 14 due to the rush of devotees.
Even shuttle buses plied to ferry pilgrims to Mela area are getting stuck in traffic bottlenecks in various localities of Prayagraj.
The situation in Ayodhya is also similar to that of Prayagraj.
On Sunday, the temple trust and the administration had issued an appeal urging the people to postpone their plans for the darshan of Ram Lalla due to uncontrollable crowding.
Prayagraj – Ayodhya Highway, Rae Bareli – Ayodhya Highway are jampacked with vehicles.
A remarkable surge in the number of devotees is being observed on special festival days.
On Mauni Amavasya (January 29), a record-breaking 7.64 crore pilgrims took a holy dip, while the previous day (January 28) saw over 4.99 crore devotees at the Sangam. On Makar Sankranti (January 14), 3.50 crore worshippers participated in the sacred ritual.
