Over 1cr pilgrims take holy dip in Gangasagar, many still waiting

Gangasagar: Over a crore pilgrims took the holy dip in Gangasagar by 3 pm on Wednesday, the state govt said. Many people are still waiting at Chemaguri, Benuban, Kachuberia, and Lot-Eight to head towards the Sagar, and it will take some time for them to reach due to traffic on both sides. Adding these numbers will make this year's Sagar fair an all-time record in terms of footfall.Senior state minister Aroop Biswas said that the highest number of pilgrims came from Uttar Pradesh. He said that the number will exceed one crore once the waiting pilgrims complete their bath, and if the locals are included, it will be much higher.State minister Bankim Hazra said that 19 barges, 29 vessels, and several thousand launches, including nine ships capable of transporting 5,000 at once, operated for 22 out of 24 hours. This time, there was no bitter experience of waiting for 6-8 hours, he said, stressing the importance of dredging.The bathing will continue until Maghi Purnima on Feb 15. Due to the crowd, people from various districts of West Bengal choose this time until Maghi Purnima for the holy bath.Biswas said that the Gangasagar fair is the only eco-friendly fair in the country. The use of plastic and thermocol is completely banned. Instead, jute and paper are used. "There are four machines to cut plastic bottles. The fairground has 100 solar-powered lights. To keep the beach clean, 3,000 workers have been employed. A total of 153,000 litres of eco-friendly disinfectant spray has been used," he said.On Thursday, the administration will launch a beach cleaning drive.