Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it the ‘mahayagya of unity’ and the common devotees see it as a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual experience but for the Uttar Pradesh government, the 45-day-long Mahakumbh starting January 13, which is expected to host 450 million devotees is a rare opportunity to showcase the State at a global level.
A month before the cultural extravaganza unfolds at Sangam, the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, the Prime Minister personally inspected the venue with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“The Mahakumbh will take the country’s cultural and spiritual identity to new heights,” the Prime Minister told the gathering at Sangam.
The local administration is working overtime to ensure that the ancient city of Prayagraj is fully prepared to accommodate the massive influx of people expected to congregate here. For this purpose, a whole new temporary city will come up across 4,000 hectares at Sangam. The entire landscape is dotted with specially designed tents for the devotees.
The city has been spruced up with a massive investment of ₹5,500 crore. Over 167 projects are being executed to augment the local infrastructure, ensuring a comfortable experience for visitors.
At least five dedicated pathways have been established, including the Akshayvat corridor and the Bharadwaj Ashram corridor, to ensure the smooth flow of both vehicular traffic and pedestrians.
All roads leading to Prayagraj have been widened to accommodate more vehicles. The capacity of nine railway stations in and around the district has also been increased to facilitate more train services and to avoid stampede-like situation.
Four treatment plants have been installed to address polluted water flowing from nallahs into the Ganga. In addition, 13 sewer treatment plants have been set up to ensure devotees get a clean holy bath, as per development project plans to make Maha Kumbhboth eco-friendly and memorable.
Given that cleanliness has always been an issue at Kumbh, the State is set to deploy a workforce of 10,000 for sanitation and 1.50 lakh toilets will be installed in the mela area.
After the successful conduct of Ardha-Kumbh in 2019, Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath said that the Maha Kumbh will not only be ‘Bhavya’ (Grand) and ‘Divya’ (Divine) but also ‘digital’. To showcase the use of technology, the State government will be introducing the “Sah’AI’yak Chatbot” — an AI-based platform for effective communication for devotees.