Over 80 lakh take holy dip on second day of Makar sankranti

ALLAHABAD: Over 80 lakh devotees took a holy dip in Sangam on the second day of Makar Sankranti as the sun shone generously on Monday at Magh Mela.
IG (Allahabad range) Ramit Sharma said, "Devotees had started flocking ghats as early 3am amid the fog for taking a snan and continued pouring in till late evening hours. The pilgrims hailed from various states like Chattishgarh, Bihar, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh as well as Nepal."

A group of around 1,500 people from Nepal had arrived Sangam for the first time to take a dip on the auspicious day of Magh Mela.

Kunal, a devotee from Nepal, said "I am visiting Magh Mela for the first time along with my neighbours and I was surprised to see the deluge of devotees. I had never seen such a big gathering of devotees who have come from different parts of the world to attain salvation."

Many of these devotees plan to go back after taking another dip in Sangam on Mauni Amavasya, which is on Tuesday. Over 1.5 crore people are expected to bathe in Ganga on Mauni Amavasya.

The IG confirmed that the flow of devotees continued till late evening and over 80 lakh had taken a dip in Sangam, till the time this report went to press.

On the second day of Makar Sankranti, devotees also donated and ate khichdi.

Police reviewed the security arrangements at Magh Mela again in view of the rush expeceted for Mauni Amavasya snan.

Officials of Mela police also monitored the situation at entry and exit locations and senior police officials also patrolled the Mela ground on foot to regulate the flow of the crowd.

On Monday, the volunteers of Bhoole Bhatke Shivir with the help of police managed to reunite 4,773 persons, which included nine children, with their families.

Currently, there are three 'lost and found' camps operational at three different sectors on the Magh Mela ground and police is also compiling the data about people, who have been missing from Magh Mela ground.