Maha Kumbh 2025: Magh Purnima Snan concludes successfully

The Magh Purnima 'snan' at the ongoing Mahakumbh Mela in Prayagraj concluded successfully on Wednesday, marking a significant milestone in the grand religious gathering.

Urban Development Department Secretary Anuj Jha highlighted the importance of this achievement, emphasizing the large number of devotees who participated.

"The snan of Maghi Purnima has been concluded successfully. It is a huge milestone for us... Lakhs of Kalpavasis and crores of pilgrims have visited here in the last month... Urban Development was the nodal department... All the arrangements are being done efficiently..." Jha stated while speaking to ANI.

According to officials, the total number of pilgrims at the Mela grounds has now reached 38.83 million, while over 10 million Kalpavasis have been residing in the area. Since the festival began, more than 462.5 million devotees have taken the holy dip as of February 11, 2025. The footfall is expected to increase further, with several significant bathing dates still ahead.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar provided insights into the security and management strategies for the fifth snan of the Mahakumbh. He acknowledged the lessons learned from an incident during Mauni Amavasya and emphasized the implementation of improved safety measures.

"This is the 5th snan of Maha Kumbh 2025... The Snan of Maha Shivratri will take place after this... A mishap took place on Mauni Amavasya. We learnt a lesson from it and implemented new techniques. There is a management technique of 'Build back better'...We took the community's feedback to improve ourselves and implemented new techniques," he stated.

DGP Kumar further revealed that between 46 to 47 crore people have visited the Mahakumbh so far, with over 1.3 crore devotees taking a dip on Magh Purnima alone. "More than 1.3 crore devotees took a dip till 10 am today. Approximately 46 to 47 crore people have visited the MahaKumbh till now. We are also focused on places like Chitrakoot, Mirzapur Vindhyanchal temple, Vishwanath corridor and Ayodhya because of the huge number of devotees visiting there," he added.

To enhance monitoring and crowd control, authorities have set up a war room in Lucknow, providing live surveillance of Prayagraj Kshetra. "We have made a war room in Lucknow where get a live feed of the Prayagraj Kshetra... More than 2500 cameras are active. We receive the live feed in the ICCC in Prayagraj... New crowd management techniques have given positive results and things are running smoothly even amid the huge crowd," Kumar stated.

Addressing concerns about a stampede at the Mahakumbh, the DGP clarified that the incident was not due to administrative failure but rather an overwhelming turnout of devotees. "It is not an administrative lapse but an overwhelming response of the people... Earlier people were coming by buses and trains, now they are coming by their cars. The mode of transport of the people has changed. A lot of people did not come in the beginning thinking that now there would be less crowd but Kumbh gained so much popularity that people from all over the world are still coming here... On main Snan days, more than 5 lakh people are travelling by around 400 trains," he explained.

Additionally, Kumar warned against misinformation being spread online, mentioning that fake videos falsely attributed to the Mahakumbh were being circulated on social media.

"Some people circulated videos of other places claiming them to be from Kumbh. A video of a police lathi charge was circulated but it was from another place...We have registered an FIR against such people," he said.

Mahakumbh 2025, which began on Paush Purnima (January 13, 2025), is the world's largest spiritual and cultural congregation, drawing devotees from around the globe. The festival will continue until Mahashivratri on February 26.