Seers: Govt planning, efficient handling of crisis saved the day

Prayagraj: Strategic preparations of state govt and promptness of mela officials helped avert a potential tragedy at the ongoing Maha Kumbh on the occasion of the Mauni Amavasya amrit snan, on Wednesday. Groups of seers, sadhus and devotees, who arrived at the mela area on Wednesday, claimed state govt had made elaborate arrangements for Maha Kumbh, but the manner in which the crowd increased on Wednesday, a tragedy could have taken place. Thanks to alertness and promptness of state govt, mela administration and police, the impact was minimised, was the refrain.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been monitoring the mela throughout and receiving minute-to-minute reports. As soon as he received information of a stampede in the morning, Yogi gathered updates from officials concerned and called a high-level meeting with chief secretary, principal secretary (home), DGP and ADG (law and order) at his official residence early morning and issued necessary instructions.Meanwhile, Mahamandaleshwar Swami Prakashanand of Shri Panch Dashnam Awahan Akhara said state govt and mela police took immediate action, which saved many lives. The kind of crowd there was, this could have been a much bigger accident, he said, adding, it was arrangements of state govt and quick response of mela police that contained the impact. "Kudos to Yogi govt for this security," he said. President of Narayan Seva Sansthan, Prashant Agarwal, said crores of devotees from all over the country and world gathered for the Mauni Amavasya Amrit Snan. Govt and administration showed promptness and controlled the incident to a major extent. Due to hard work of govt and officials engaged in the system, Amrit Snan of Maha Kumbh was completed with peaceful arrangements. "I appeal to devotees and saints who have come for Amrit Snan to be cautious and not pay attention to rumours. I appreciate efforts of administration and expect cooperation from everyone," said Agarwal.According to an eyewitness, despite Yogi-led state govt's fool-proof plan for Mauni Amavasya, overcrowding was responsible for the incident that occurred between 1 am and 2 am, adding that if there was no pushing and shoving, the incident could have been averted. Gopalganj, Bihar resident Kumkum Srivastava said it was Maha Kumbh was a very good experience as Yogi govt made good arrangements, while the incident happened due negligence of some people. When the govt was repeatedly appealing that everyone should bathe wherever they had reached, there was no need to go to Sangam Nose," she said.