Social distancing ‘distanced’ at Kumbh Mela   

On the occasion of 2nd ‘shahi snan’ in Kumbh, lakhs of devotees took a holy dip in River Ganga at Har Ki Pauri in Uttarakhand on Monday.

As the huge crowd gathered for the Shahi Snan Kumbh Mela Inspector General (IG) Sanjay Gunjyal admitted that it was difficult to ensure social distancing norms at the ghats

He said, “We are continuously appealing to people to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. But it is practically not possible to issue challans. A stampede-like situation may arise if we would try to enforce social distancing at ghats.''

While the public was allowed till 7 am at the ghats as after that the area was reserved for akharas, reportedly by 4 am, more than 6 lakh devotees had already taken a dip in the river.

And throughout the day, Sadhus kept pouring into the Ghats with no concern for virus safety rules. Notably, Just a day ago, the head priest, Mahant Narendra Giri of the Akhada Parishad had tested COVID positive.

The Kumbh Mela takes place every 12 years at four river-bank pilgrimage sites across India but this time it is taking place during a raging pandemic and will conclude in the last week of April. For the unversed, this year four Shahi Snans will be held in Kumbh Mela 2021.

While the 1st Shahi Snan took place on 11th March on the occasion of  Shivratri, the second Shahi Snan was held on April 12 on the occasion of Somvati Amavasya. Now the  3rd Shahi Snan will take place on 14th April on Sankranti and the fourth and last Shahi Snan will be held on 27th April on Baisakh Purnima.

In normal times the crowds are good for business but this time even local people were apparetly seen worried as they watched the steep rise in Covid cases in Haridwar in the past few days.

On Sunday, Uttarakhand reported 1,333 new COVID-19 cases taking the total number of the cases in the state to 1,08,812. The active cases in the state now stand at 7,323.