A boy reacts after being poured water over his head at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers, at the Kumbh Mela celebration in Allahabad, yesterday.
Allahabad: Organisers of the biggest Hindu religious festival, which starts on the banks of the river Ganges today, said they were ready for the tens of millions of pilgrims expected to attend.
The Kumbh Mela, which takes place on a 12-year cycle and will last 55 days, is being held in the northern city of Allahabad where vast crowds of Hindus have already gathered ahead of the first mass bathing in the sacred river today.
The organisation of the festival requires a monumental effort, but officials said everything was in place for a safe and successful event. “All arrangements have been made to ensure that on this auspicious occasion the bathing can take place in a smooth and acceptable fashion,” chief organiser Mani Prasad Mishra said yestarday.
Top state police officer Arun Kumar said the biggest concern was crowd control and the 12,000 officers on duty would be monitoring to guard against stampedes — a frequent and deadly occurrence at Indian religious festivals.
“We will be measuring the pressures in the crowd, with officers on the ground and we have also put in watchtowers and will monitor the entry points,” Kumar, who is in charge of law and order said. “We are totally prepared to handle this Mela.”AFP
