Sun sets on Kumbh ‘with no harassment case’

The city of tents that had come to exist on the sandy river bed around Sangam formally closed down with an estimated 70 lakh taking the holy dip on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Sunday, marking the end of the 56-day-long Kumbh Mela of 2013.

The administration estimates that anywhere between eight to nine crore people bathed at Sangam during the entire mela, which is considered to be the largest religious gathering on the Earth.

In his briefing to mediapersons this evening, Commissioner (Allahabad Division) Devesh Chaturvedi, apart from lauding various aspects of management in mela, highlighted two things: successful ban of polythene in the mela area and not a single instance of harassment of women, a large number of whom had come for the event.

"The people of Allahabad are to be thanked. They have shown utmost respect to the women folk and there has not been a single case of harassment of women," said Chaturvedi.

However, crowd management capabilities came under serious question when on Mauni Amavasya (February 10), over three crore people took the holy dip in one single day, and a stampede at the Allahabad Railway station killed 38 people, leaving another 37 injured.

Together with a fire tragedy that occurred on January 25, the total number of lives lost during the Kumbh was around 50. In terms of loss of lives, it was among the worst Kumbh melas in Allahabad since 1954, when a tragedy on Mauni Amavasya had left more than 500 dead following a stampede in the mela area.

The tragedies apart, it is the huge numbers generated by the Mela, spread over 58 square km area, which are likely to be kept for posterity. More than 170 km of checkered plates, more than 680 km of water pipelines, 29,810 water connections; 830 km of electric lines; 25,464 street lights and 1.90 lakh power connections - the evidence of all these numbers would soon disappear as the sandy river bed resurfaces. Chaturvedi has already issued instructions to all the departments concerned for compiling their achievements and also the amount spent by them, along with proof.

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