Islands created to manage crowd at Nashik Kumbh Mela

It is close to 12 years and the Maharashtra government wants to forget it as a bad experience. It learnt several lessons in the stampede that occurred on  August 27, 2002, which claimed 39 lives.

On that day during the Royal Bath over 30,000 pilgrims were held back by barricades in a narrow street leading to the Ramkund to enable sadhus to take the ceremonial dip first. As part of rituals, some sadhus threw coins and people started making efforts to collect them as treasure and chaos broke, leading the death of 39 people and 29 of them were women.

The incident left a blot on the arrangements made by the government. Once bitten, twice shy, goes saying and it also sums up the situation of the government.

Leaving nothing to chance, the Maharashtra Government claims to have made fool-proof arrangements to ensure that the once-in-a-12-year Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela in Nashik, which starts this week, is incident-free. Nashik city and the neighbouring temple town of Trimba­keshwar have witnessed a major facelift and the Nashik Collectorate, Nashik Municipal Corporation, Trimbakeshwar Municipal Council and Nashik Police Commissionerate and Nashik District Police have come together to ensure smooth traffic and security for devotees.

“We have prepared a comprehensive plan for security and traffic management,” said Home Department Principal Secretary B K Upadhyay. “We have factored in what had happened in the past... we have extensively studied all the Kumbh Melas in recent history,” he said. This time more people are expected at Nashik during the next three months.

On the days of shahi snan and the royal baths, the crowd swells up and there would be barricades. “We have factored in various issues and taken into consideration the stampede in 2003. We would channelise the crowd and for crowd management, holding areas and islands have been created, where 1,000 to 2,000 people can be accommodated,” he said Nearly Rs 20 crore has been spent for a disaster management control room-- which is networked with the police and civic bodies and provide 24x7 updates through a network of CCTV cameras.

“We have made high-tech announcement systems, which would be loud and clear,” he said. The management of traffic is important and a lot of work has been done. “We have created parking lots or earmarked places for two wheelers, four-wheelers, buses and so on,” he said. Instruction boards would be in place to help devotees and avoid confusion.
“What you see today is the result of very hard work and we have visualised almost everything,” said Gurmeet Singh Bagga, Deputy Mayor of Nashik.

“We have given extensive training to the staff and in several batches and rounds,” he said. Besides, traffic and security, a lot of stress has been given on health, sanitation and cleanliness.

The Kumbh melas are held at Nashik-Trimbakeshwar, Allahabad (Prayag), Haridwar and Ujjain.The Ardh Kumbh are held at Prayag and Haridwar after every six years. The Kumbh-Mela is held at the banks of sacred rivers every 12 years. At Nashik-Trimabkeshwar it is held at the banks of river Godavari. At Prayag it is held at the famous Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganga-Yamuna and the invisible Saraswati, on the banks of Ganga at Haridwar and on the banks of Kshipra at Ujjain. This year’s Kumbh Mela would commence on July 14 with the flag hoisting at Ram Kund followed by July 19 at the Sadhu Gram.

The Shravan Shudha Pratham (first) Snan is on August 26, while the Shravan Shudha pournima (first Shahi Snan) is on August 29. The Bhadrapad Krushna Amavasya Dwitiya (second Shahi Snan) is on September 13, which is the main bathing day. The Bhadrapad Rushipanchami Dwitiya (third Shahi Snan) would be held on September 18 followed by Bhadrapad Shukla Vaman Dwadashi Tritiya on September 25.

This Kumbh is unique as Vaishnav Akhadas and Shaiva Akhadas, which bath together at Prayag, Haridwar and Ujjain, bath separately here.The three Vaishnav Akhadas which are taking part are Shree Nirmohi Aai Akhada, Shree Nirvani Akhada and Shree Digambar Akhada.

The Shaiva Akhadas that are joining are Shree Shambhu Panch Darshan Juna Akhada, Shree Shambhu Panch Avan Akhada, Shree, Shambhu Panch Agni Akhada, Shree Panch Darshan Atal Akhada, Shree Panchayati Akhada Anand Akhada, Shree Panchayati Akhada Niranjani Akhada, Shree Panchayati Akhada Mahanirwani, Shree Bada Uda­ria Akhada Nirvan, Shree Naya Udaria Akhada Nirvan and Shree Nirmay Panchayati Akhada.

This Kumbh has its own importance as Nashik is believed to be the part of Danda­karanya, where Lord Rama lived during his exile. Trimbakeshwar is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. The sacred river Godavari originates here on Bramhagiri hills.

The mythological significance of Kumbh revolves around the story of the samudra manthan or ocean churning which was done by the gods and demons to obtain the invaluable ratnas or the jewels and amrita or the nectar. The astrological aspect of Kumbh is related to traversing of planets and stars and their certain alignment. As per vedas, the sun is considered as a soul like or life giving. The moon is considered as a lord of mind. The planet Jupiter or Brihaspati is considered as guru of gods. As it takes almost 12 years for the Jupiter to traverse to complete zodiac, the Kumbh is celebrated in accordance at one place after about 12 years.

When the Jupiter enters in Leo or Simha (zodiac sign) and the sun and moon in cancer, the Kumbha is held at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar.

“This Kumbh Mela would be a green Kumbh Mela,” Nashik Collector Deependra Singh Kushwah says. A lot of work has been done to ensure that sadhu-gram is perfect. “A lot of civil work has been taken up at the temple complex at Trimbakeshwar,” said Sachin Pachorkar, the trustee of Shree Trimbakeshwar Sansthan Trust.

As part of the green Kumbh Mela, Godavari cleaning up has been done. An action plan has been chalked out to ensure that there is no disturbance to the environment during royal bath on August 29, September 13 and September 25. “On the day of royal baths, the rush of pilgrims is very high. This the royal baths are on weekends or extended weekends and many more people would come,” officials said. Bombay High Court had also issued directives on the cleaning of the Godavari river and the administration is implementing it.