'Nepal can also reap benefits from Maha Kumbh'

Kamal Kumar Basnet  
Prayagraj (India), Feb 12: The devotees are seen with joys while taking holy dips at the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges rivers.    

Although they seem exhausted from a long distance travel, the rejoices of arriving here here area clearly manifested in their facial expressions.    

In the Kumbh Mela that believably occurs once in the hiatus of every 144 years, millions of devotees can be seen chanting the name of God while taking dips in the bathing spots created along the riverbanks.    

The belief that the Ganga, Yamuna, and the Saraswati rivers converge here gives this place a special religious significance. However, the existence of the Saraswati River is not conspicuous at present.    

Information Officer of the Kumbh Mela, Gagan Yadav shared the influx of visitors to the Kumbh Mela underway in Prayagraj, Uttarakhand of India has been increasing day by day since last month. He claimed that around 10 million to 30 million devotees are turning up here every day.  

  
"The Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based cameras have been installed at intersections for the counting of people entering to Maha Kumbh. As many as 30 million devotees have come to the jamboree in a day," he said.    

The inflow of devotees to the august religious gathering has increased significantly on the days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bath here. "Number of devotees has been on the rise in the last five days so it has become a herculean job for us to manage," he said.    

As informed, over 450 million people have so far visited the Maha Kumbh Mela. Devotees from different countries including Nepal have come here, he said.    
According to him, 550 million devotees are expected to visit the event till the closing of the fair.    

Yadav said that Nepal can also reap benefits from the Maha Kumbh Mela by promoting religious tourism. Most of the devotees visiting here are also reaching the temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya and the temple of Vishwanath Baba in Varanasi.    

Similarly, they can be taken to the famous pilgrimage sites of Nepal, including Pashupatinath, Muktinath and Lumbini.    

He informed that arrangements have been made on the banks of the river so that all the devotees can take holy bath at the confluence.   

 
A place has also been set up for conducting 'podcasting' with residential facilities for local, national and international media.    

A temporary accommodation has also been constructed for the visitors. According to Information Officer Yadav, the Government of India has so far spent Rs 75 billion for the operation of the fair. RSS