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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today detailed all the preparations made by authorities in Prayagraj for Mahakumbh. Yogi Adityanath, while speaking at News Agency Mahakumbh Samvaad, said that when the BJP got the chance to organise Ardha Kumbh in 2019, he along with other government officials identified all the challenges before the mega event. Mahakumbh is held every 12 years and Ardha Kumbh every six years.
"In 2019, the BJP got the opportunity to organise Kumbh for the first time. At that time, we studied all the media reports and other documents on Kumbh arrangements till then. We were surprised to see global reporting on Kumbh. Some would say, it discriminated between castes and gender. Some would comment on the lack of hygiene," Yogi Adityanath told News Agency's Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia.
"So, in 2019, we were mindful of these challenges and made arrangements based on that," Yogi Adityanath," he said.
The Chief Minister asserted that "an event is not just that. It's also an opportunity for a city's sustainable development - its infrastructure, its connectivity".
"We knew we had to focus on the issue that could draw the attention of media and opposition due to lapses on our part. Like issues such as lack of hygiene, stampedes, questions about the cleanliness of the river etc. Keeping all these things in mind, we expanded the event area. We worked systematically on Prayagraj city. We worked on the roads and railway connectivity," he said.
"Prayagraj got a civil terminal for the first time in 2019. It was built in a record 11 months. Nearly 150 roads were upgraded - from single lane to double lane and from double lane to four lanes. Several teams worked to keep the river clean. Earlier the toilets were built in such a manner that the sewer would flow to the river. People would bathe in that, the river used to stink. We changed that," he added.
Yogi Adityanath then listed out the arrangements made by his government: "This year, we built 14 underpasses and flyovers, expanded the civil terminal and improved the connectivity. For the mela, which is on 10,000 acres, we allocated an additional 5,000 acres for parking".
Mahakumbh 2025 - which began on January 13 and will continue until February 26 - has been seeing an unprecedented influx of devotees. As per the latest figures, 12 crore people have taken the sacred dip at the revered Ganga-Yamuna-Saraswati confluence. The mega event is witnessing people from different languages, lifestyles, and traditions coming together at the Sangam.