Police personnel keep vigil as part of safety precautions the day after a stampede at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on Thursday. PTI Photo
Kumbh Mela LIVE | UP chief secy, DGP at the spot for post-stampede review
Five special secretary-level officers are being assigned to oversee operations and they will remain in Prayagraj until Feb 12 to assist in streamlining the arrangements
Following the stampede at the Maha Kumbh on Wednesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued a slew of guidelines on crowd management, traffic flow, prevention of build-up of devotees and coordination among departments.
The administration has implemented five major changes, including declaring the entire fair area a No-Vehicle Zone. Besides, no special passes will allow vehicle entry, eliminating any exceptions.
The chief minister ordered the deployment of Ashish Goyal, who served as Divisional Commissioner of Prayagraj during Kumbh 2019, and Bhanu Goswami, a former Vice Chairman of ADA, to further strengthen the arrangements, according to an official statement.
Adityanath asked the chief secretary and the director general of police to conduct a thorough review of the Maha Kumbh Mela arrangements on Thursday. "Every aspect related to security and public convenience must be carefully examined to ensure seamless arrangements for Basant Panchami," he said.
He said the incumbent ADG and the District Magistrate of Prayagraj must ensure safe and smooth departure of every devotee.
Five Special Secretary-level officers are being assigned to oversee operations, according to the government statement.
It said they will remain in Prayagraj until February 12 to assist in streamlining the arrangements. Moreover, Superintendent of Police-level officers will also be deployed for enhanced management and security, the statement said.
At least 30 people were killed and 60 injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh Wednesday as millions of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of one of the most auspicious days of Mauni Amavasya.
In light of the tragedy, the chief minister conducted a late-night video conference with senior police officers and officials from multiple districts including Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mirzapur, Basti, Jaunpur, Chitrakoot, Banda, Ambedkarnagar, Pratapgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Bhadohi, Rae Bareli and Gorakhpur.
After reviewing updates from the ADG and the District Magistrate of Prayagraj, the CM emphasised the need for heightened vigilance and caution in the mela area, according to the official statement.
The incident comes days after a massive fire reduced at least 18 tents to ashes at the fair following a cylinder blast.
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Live Updates
- 30 Jan 2025 3:06 AM GMT
Five key changes implemented by administration
Complete no-vehicle zone: Entry of all types of vehicles is strictly prohibited in the Maha Kumbh fair area.
VVIP passes canceled: No special passes will allow vehicle entry, eliminating any exceptions.
One-way routes implemented: A one-way traffic system has been enforced to streamline the movement of devotees.
Vehicle entry restricted: Vehicles arriving from neighbouring districts of Prayagraj are being stopped at district borders to reduce congestion.
Strict restrictions until February 4: Entry of four-wheelers into the city is completely banned until this date to maintain order.
- 29 Jan 2025 2:56 PM GMT
Vehicles, pilgrims stranded on MP-UP border
A large number of vehicles carrying thousands of devotees to Maha Kumbh remained stuck on the border between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday due to a huge crowd in Prayagraj, officials said.
They said the vehicles heading to Prayagraj had been stopped late last night in various holding areas near Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said food and accommodation arrangements were made for the devotees stranded in Rewa district.
Rewa city is located 130 km from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.
The state police and administration officials were present at the spot, taking care of proper arrangements of the food and accommodation for all devotees there, he said.
"Along with this, a team of doctors has also been made available at the spot for health-related needs," the CM, who is currently on a visit to Japan in connection with the Global Investors Summit scheduled later this month, said.
Yadav appealed to the devotees to maintain patience and follow the administration's guidelines.
Eyewitnesses said that long queues of vehicles could be seen on various roads after the administration stopped the traffic in view of the situation in Prayagraj.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Rewa zone, Saket Prakash Pandey, said almost 18 per cent of the total devotees reaching Prayagraj were passing from Chakghat and Hanumana in Rewa and Chitrakoot in Satna district.
- 29 Jan 2025 2:45 PM GMT
UP govt announces judicial probe, compensation
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a 3-member judicial probe into the stampede. Yogi has also announced 25 lakh each for families of the deceased.
- 29 Jan 2025 1:13 PM GMT
30 dead in Kumbh stampede
Thirty people have lost their lives in the Maha Kumbh stampede that took place between 1 and 2 am, says DIG Maha Kumbh, Vaibhav Krishna. Of them, 25 people have been identified and the identification of the remaining five is being done, he adds. Four are from Karnataka, and one each from Assam and Gujarat. - 29 Jan 2025 1:00 PM GMT
Divisional Commissioner's plea fell on deaf ears
A video of Prayagraj Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant urging devotees to take precautions has now gone viral. Evidently, his requests fell on deaf ears.
In the video, Pant is seen advising the devotees against overcrowding the Maha Kumbh bathing area and avoiding lying down in the passage leading to the ghats.
In the video, Pant could be heard saying, “Get up, get up...take a bath. Many people are expected, and there’s a possibility of a stampede.”
He was seen requesting devotees to prioritize their safety, especially those who had arrived early, suggesting they should quickly vacate the area after the dip.
- 29 Jan 2025 12:56 PM GMT
Eyewitnesses recount horror
More than 12 hours after the stampede at Sangam, devotees recounted the horrific incident saying people were pushing each other to take a dip at the auspicious time on Mauni Amavasya.
Going by eyewitness accounts, one of the reasons for the tragedy was the sudden surge of pilgrims at the Sangam — all driven by an obvious desire to take the holy dip at 3 am, the start of the auspicious hour.
“Many devotees had patiently waited for the auspicious hour. Several of them were sitting on the ground, and some were even lying down near the ghats. The bathing site was barricaded.
“Past midnight, a sudden surge of devotees led to barricades coming apart, and in the melee, many people who were sleeping or sitting on the ground were trampled,” said Madhumita, a devotee from Assam who claimed to have witnessed the tragedy.
Badama Devi, an elderly woman from Bihar’s Begusarai, broke down while recounting the tragedy, saying she had come to the Maha Kumbh to take the dip at the propitious moment.
“We knew that this moment would not come again in our lifetime, and that is why we had travelled from so far and waited all this while to be able to take the bath in the Ganga at the auspicious moment,” Devi said.
“Lagta hai Ganga Mai ka ihai manzoor rahan (it seems that mother Ganga willed it so),” Ram Sumiran from Palamu, Jharkhand, reflected on the stampede.
“We were aware that this sacred moment was coming after 144 years. None of us wanted to miss it. Scores of devotees were lying on the ground waiting for the auspicious hour to begin to take the dip. A sudden surge out of nowhere led to a stampede. Many were got trampled as crowd pressure escalated after barricades collapsed,” said Sumiran, who was still in a state of shock.
He said that many people waited for long not just for the auspicious hour to take the dip but also to catch a glimpse of Naga sadhus.
