Ardh Kumbh Mela: 3 Cr Devotees Take A Holy Dip At The Sangam

Allahabad, Oct 17 (UNI) About three crore devotees are expected to take a holy dip in the waters of Sangam, the confleunce of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati on January 19 next on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya during more than one month long Ardh Kumbh Mela.

Mauni Amavasya would be one of six major Shahi Snan (Royal Bathing) festivals during the Ardh Kumbh- Prayag (Allahabad) scheduled to start from January 3 next year.

The Mela administration announced the main bathing festivals of the Mela starting from Paush Purnima (Jan 3) followed by Makar Sankranti (Jan 14), Mauni Amavasya (Jan 19), Basant Panchami (Jan 23), Maghi Purnima (Feb 2) and Mahashivratri (Feb 16).

The preparations for the largest religious congregation of the country were in full swing with a separate township of tents being erected in sprawling 7151 bigha are on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna and invisible Saraswati, Mela officer Pragyan Ram Mishra said here last evening.

The mela officer said the entire mela area would be divided into eleven sectors and would cover an area of about eight per cent more than the land covered in the last kumbh--2001.

The Uttar Pradesh government had so far released an amount of Rs 158.24 crores to the various departments for organising the mela, he said. The state government has set December 15 as the deadline for completition of the work in the mela area.

Mr Mishra chose the occasion to assure the devotees to provide clean water in Ganga river during he Ardh Kumbh mela.

Massive security arrangements were being made and the entire mela area had been divided into six zones and fourteen sectors for the purpose, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mela Rajiv Sabharwal said.

A total of 30 police stations and 35 police outposts would be set up to look after the security aspects, he said.

A crack commonado force would be in place during the mela in view of the terrorist threat during the congregration, Mr Sabharwal said.

Besides these, ten teams of anti sabotage, 2 teams of anti mines, jammer deep search mines would be deployed during the Ardh Kumbh.

Eleven thousand strong police posse with additional strength of ten companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) would also be deployed in the mela area. ''We are taking help of the army which would deploy ten antimines teams,'' the SSP, Mela said.