The Mahakumbh continues to register new records every day, the footfall not decreasing even a bit, and the devotion of the people knows no bounds. And as the weekend approaches, it even surges more. With four days still remaining for the culmination of the grand event, Mahakumbh has witnessed a count of 59.31 crore visitors who have taken the holy bath at the sacred confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers.
Until 10 am on Saturday, 22 February 2025, 51.61 lakh people took the holy dip. By 8 pm on Friday, 1.28 crore devotees took bath at Sangam and other ghats, a figure since the past seven days. The figure will increase further owing to the weekend and Mahashivratri ahead. Estimates show that until the end of the weekend, the figure might cross 60 crore mark. This is now way ahead of the expected 45 crore visitors.
Moreover, the devotees have not only restricted to railway stations and roads alone, the number is huge even in the air as well. Notably, till now 3.32 lakh passengers have travelled by air to Prayagraj airport. This is a new record at Mahakumbh, with more passengers making it to Prayagraj travelling by air.
As Mahashivratri is approaching, the district administration is making arrangements for traffic control and security. For the traffic, seven main routes leading to the city have been identified where senior police officials have been deployed with an efficient force. Crowd surge at railway stations has also been observed on the weekend. There have been changes to the traffic management for the successful snan completion on the day of Mahashivratri.
The situation is such that there are no rooms available in hotels as well as the cottages built in tent city. Everything has been pre-booked until 26th February. Bookings in the tent city are full till February 28. Seeing to all this, the administration has created a holding area for the passengers at the New Delhi Railway Station to manage the crowd travelling to Prayagraj. Strict measures have been taken, followed by the last stampede at the railway station.
The coming four days will be tough for the administration, with arrival of more devotees. Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and DGP Prashant Kumar have already inspected the fair area on Friday looking over the arrangements ahead of the weekend and Mahashivratri. The fair area should have been emptied by now after the Magh Purnima snan, but seeing to the enthusiasm, spirit and devotion, it is estimated that by the end of Mahakumbh, the registered count of visitors might be 65 crores.