Brief spell of winter showers brings to fore woes of kalpavasis at Kumbh 2019

Even as tall claims were made by the Kumbh Mela administration of providing foolproof facilities to cope with any situation, a brief spell of winter showers over the last few days belied all claims.

On the other hand, amidst reports that the actual number of crowd at the ongoing Kumbh Mela did not tally with the account of locals, Sunday January 27, was a day when the Mela administration was on its toes in the wake of an unusually high number of visitors who thronged the Mela area on the weekly holiday.

However, this also brought to fore some facts as to how visitors, including locals as well as those coming from outside, are being swindled by e-rickshaw drivers, auto drivers, boatmen and others who are operating private transport vehicles.

Families in groups of four to five were forced to shell out as much as ₹500 to ₹600 for a ride from the Parade ground area to Triveni Bund, from where entry of vehicles, including four wheelers, were restricted.

Many of the visitors who could not reconcile to the idea of being forced to cough up such an exorbitant amount decided to walk upto the Triveni bund area rather than paying this amount for a distance of merely two kilometres.

A visitor from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, Ram Kumar Reddy, who had come to the Kumbh area along in a group of 20 members said, “We have come here guided by immense faith in the healing power of the holy Ganges and religious significance of Prayagraj and we do not expect to be treated like tourist out holidaying. These are facilities which are needed by everyone coming from outside and the local administration should regulate the rates for those availing them”.

A brief spell of winter showers during the last few days, apart from aggravating the woes of Kalpavasis, also exposed the claims of Mela administration of maintaining high standards of health and sanitation in the Mela area. A visiting journalist from Kolkata, Ashok Kumar Kundu, camping in Sector 5, was taken ill after suffering from gastroenteritis due to consuming contaminated water and being forced to live in unhygienic conditions in the wake of recent rain.

The media center set up on the Parade ground area, which resembles a hi-tech makeshift venue equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for media persons, also bore the brunt of insanitary conditions. Behind the main camp, foul smell was emanating from camps behind the main center, with urine overflowing from the toilets set up inside them.