Traffic snarls hinder plans for many on Day 1

Allahabad: Hundreds of devotees took the holy dip in the Ganga as a mark of reverence for Lord Shiva and performed Rudrabhishek on the first day of Shrawan, the Hindu month dedicated to the deity.
“It is customary in the region to bathe in Ganga during Shrawan. Since we have the river close by, no one misses the opportunity,” said Gayatri Devi, who had come with her large joint family to catch up with the tradition.
Pandit Ravi Shankar, chief of Takshak Temple — dedicated to snake named Takshak, who is believed to be the head of snakes and reptiles’ clan according to Puranas — said the Ganga snan was seen as a way to surrender one-self to Shiva.
“Both Shiva and Ganga are epitome of public welfare… they tend to bless everyone even at the cost of their own loss. And, the two deities shower their blessings on devotees when the latter completely surrender to them,” he explained citing several references from the Matsya Puran.
A number of devotees also performed Rudrabhishek – a special prayer and worship procedure believed to invoke blessings of Shiva – near the Sangam. The list included deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya among others.
Residents in more than two dozen localities along the five kilometre Allahabad-Varanasi stretch were left harried following the slush of devotees during the day.
Since many visitors parked the trollies they used to reach to the Shastri (Ganga) Bridge, the area remained jam-packed for a larger part of the day causing inconvenience to office-goers. The problem was aggravated by those taking the wrong side and violating traffic diversion.
“It took me over an hour to cross the bridge which can be covered in less than 10 minutes,” said Amit Singh, a resident of Trivenipuram area. Ajay Tewari of Andhawa rued traffic diversions imposed by the local administration to ensure smooth flow of traffic.