Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
Nowadays Mahakumbh is discussed everywhere. What he gets, he has either come to bathe in Mahakumbh or is preparing to go there. There is amazing enthusiasm among people to take a dip in the confluence. The figure of bathing people in Mahakumbh has so far crossed 55 crores. 36 days of Mahakumbh have passed, now 9 days are left and looking at the enthusiasm of the devotees, it seems that this time the number of devotees who reach Mahakumbh can cross sixty crores.
Devotees from every corner of the country are reaching Prayagraj. The most pressure is on Indian Railways. Rail is a common man’s ride, cheap and smooth. Railways had arranged to run more than 13 thousand special trains during Mahakumbh, but all the preparations are proving insufficient in front of the enthusiasm of the devotees. There is a huge crowd at railway stations. Railways have to find new measures every day for crowd management.
I went to the war room of the Ministry of Railways on Monday where every train going to Mahakumbh is being monitored. This war room is working round the clock. I was surprised to see that Railway Board Chairman Satish Kumar himself was present in the war room. He has once been a general manager in Prayagraj and Lucknow. Know the rumor of the railway line of these areas. Major officials like Manoj Yadav, Director General of Railway Protection Force, are also monitoring the situation themselves.
Railways started preparations for Mahakumbh two and a half years ago. A large -scale infrastructure was created in Prayagraj, but no one had imagined that more than 50 crore people would come to the Mahakumbh. That is why the strategy had to change completely.
On Monday, more than one crore 35 lakh devotees took a dip in the Sangam at Mahakumbh. It is generally believed that after the bathing of Maghi Purnima, the beauty of Mahakumbh ends. Maghi Purnima was on 12 February. After that, the saints of Kalpavasi and Akharas have returned, but even after this, the number of people reaching Mahakumbh is constantly increasing. Mahakumbh will run till Shivaratri. The Mahakumbh will be formally concluded with the nectar bath of Shivaratri. The fair administration hopes that in the eight days left, the enthusiasm of the devotees will remain intact in this way and by February 26, the figure of devotees in Mahakubha will cross sixty crores.
Entry of external vehicles in Prayagraj city is closed. The roads coming from station, bus stop and parking towards Sangam area have been kept empty for only pedestrians. There is a crowd of devotees on the streets, but the maximum crowd is at eight stations around Prayagraj. Millions of devotees are reaching Prayagraj by trains. This is the biggest challenge for the Railways to reach the right platform, to the right platform after reaching the confluence and returning from the confluence.
On Monday, 366 special trains were run from Prayagraj. Holding area has been created everywhere. Color coding has been implemented. Different colored tickets are being given for trains going in different directions. The color which is a ticket, the holding area is painted in the same color so that the passengers do not have any kind of confusion. Railway police personnel standing to help the passengers are also easily guiding people after seeing the color of the ticket.
If someone has to go from Prayagraj towards Kanupar, Delhi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh or Jammu, then he has been given a green ticket. Those who have to catch the train for Varanasi, Ayodhya, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and its surrounding areas are being given a red ticket. Only those people who are going towards Bihar, Bengal or Odisha will get the blue -colored tickets. The yellow code ticket is being given to passengers going to Madhya Pradesh and surrounding areas.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav himself is working round the clock. Mini control rooms have been built at all railway stations in Prayagraj. The pictures that came from Uttar Pradesh on Monday were different. Kashi, Ayodhya, Mirzapur, Chandauli saw a crowd of people going to Mahakumbh everywhere, but all these stations were under control. Since Akhilesh Yadav is constantly questioning the crowd management in the Mahakumbh, Yogi Adityanath said that 12 crore devotees came to Kumbh of 2013, the event was 55 days, there was a half Kumbh in 2019, 24 crore people came during that time, during that time, 24 crore people came, This time, so far, there have been 36 days in the total event of 45 days and 55 crore devotees came in 36 days.
Yogi reminded that in the past we only accepted faith that there was no strength in it, we had to suffer its consequences, in the minds of we Indians in the period of slave , We were told that what is from India, it has no importance and what is outside India has importance. The consequences were also in front of us. Modi ji made the Indians realize for the first time, not, we can increase the importance of life by giving us importance to life values related to India, faith as an Indian.
It is true of Yogi Adityanath that Mahakumbh has given the Indians an opportunity to see his Sanatan, his legacy, his faith in a new form. Organizing such a large scale was not an easy task. There could have been two ways to organize Mahakumbh. One is that 10-12 crore people come, everything goes well, and the other way is that 50 crore people come to manage, they have to be used to manage, bathing, meditation, food for everyone. There was no risk in the first way and the other way was full of challenge.
Yogi Adityanath chose another route. It was a difficult task. In this entire campaign, the railway had a big role in bringing people to Mahakumbh. Special trains are being run from 300 to 350 in a day. The tracks are the same, the staff is the same, but crores of people were arranged to come. This is unimaginable in itself. Ashwini Vaishnav accepted the biggest passenger traffic in the history of the railway as a major challenge. Preparations for two and a half years. Monitor the movement of Kumbh on the day and night, then it was possible to go. The good thing is that more than 55 crore people took a bath, bowing to the mother Ganga with devotion. This is not just a record in itself, the subject of research. (Rajat Sharma)
See: ‘Today’s talk with Rajat Sharma’ full episode of February 17, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF8DB8RFG9Q
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