Top Gear: How Mahakumbh 2025 Was Put Together In Less Than Three Months

Early on Wednesday, a stampede-like situation occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj near the Sangam ghat, where the rivers Ganga, Jamuna and the mythical Saraswati meet. Approximately 30 people were reportedly injured and taken to hospital.

Large crowds arrived to take the holy dip on the auspicious Mauni Amavasya day and surging masses near the Sangam ghat resulted in a stampede. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appealed to pilgrims on X to bathe at the ghats closest to them, instead of attempting to reach the Sangam’s nose.

“Maha Kumbh-2025, dear devotees come to Prayagraj, take bath at the ghat of Mother Ganga near which you are, do not try to go towards Sangam Nose. All of you should follow the instructions of the administration and cooperate in making arrangements. People are bathing peacefully at all the ghats of Sangam. Do not pay any attention to any rumours,” he wrote.

The Mahakumbh, from the beginning, has been, not just the largest but also the toughest event to pull off.

The UP government had begun preparations for the once-in-144-years festival well in advance — a year earlier, in fact. What they did not account for though, was the fury of nature. The river Ganga, holiest of Hindu rivers, floods the banks of Prayagraj every year. It is said that Ganga maa bathes the Lete Hue Hanuman (Hanuman that is lying down) once a year. The Hanuman temple which is on the banks of the Ganga near the Sangam ghat is considered a must-visit for all pilgrims.

In 2024, the river Ganga remained in her flood plains for a month longer than usual.

“Usually, the flood waters recede in the month of August, but this time the river Ganga flood receded almost at the end of September,” said Vivek Chaturvedi, Additional Mela Officer, Prayagraj Mela Administration. “We got the land in the catchment area in the first week of October.”

But there was a catch. The administration anticipated that at least 40 crore pilgrims would visit Prayagraj during the Kumbh. Arrangements had to be such that this enormous crowd could access the Sangam easily and avoid stampedes. The Ganga itself would become the solution to the problem.

“Usually, the river Ganga takes some channels every year after the floods,” said Chaturvedi. “The land patches between these channels are islands and they are of no use. Then the Mela Pradhikaran decided to go ahead with dredging work along with IIT Guwahati. We went ahead with the dredging of river Ganga and got the result that we wanted. This also helped us to reclaim land near the Sangam because the crowd coming to Kumbh mela is quite enormous.”

Then came the development of infrastructure for 4,000 hectares of land adjoining the rivers.

“We started levelling the entire area. Then the line departments such as PWD (Public Works Department), Jal Nigam and the Electricity Department all worked together in a synchronised manner,” said Chaturvedi.

Roads as long as 651 km were built, high and low tension lines were put up on electric poles, multiple substations were built, 1,250 km of drinking water and sewage pipelines were laid and 67,000 LED streetlights were put up. Thirty pontoon bridges were constructed so that pilgrims could reach the snaan areas with ease.

All of this basic infrastructure took a month and a half to complete. Tents, temporary plywood constructions, pandals and other structures were next in line.

“Everyone worked hard, inter-departmental cooperation was very good. We were able to put up the entire tent city in a month and a half,” Chaturvedi said.

Ensuring the safety of pilgrims was the next bug bear. Elaborate attention had to be paid to ensure stampedes did not take place, that children and adults did not get lost and if they did, would be reunited with their families quickly.

The UP police decided to go in for the best surveillance technology available to them. Four Integrated Command and Control Centres were set up, which connected all the emergency services including the police, fire services, bomb disposal squads and ambulance services. “Four centres were set up for emergency and mirroring,” said Amit Kumar, SP and in-charge, ICCC. “They are in different areas so that in case of failure or disaster recovery, we can use those centres.”

Drills were held, which brought down response time to any emergency to 2.5 minutes.

AI-powered CCTV cameras all over Prayagraj city and the Mela area were connected and they beam live into the ICCC.

“Crowd management is done by AI-enabled tools. We monitor the number of people taking a dip at any point of time and divert crowds to other ghats if too many people gather at one point,” said Vaibhav Krishna, Deputy Inspector General of Mahakumbh. “By monitoring real time, we can divert the crowds and ensure they are distributed evenly.”

The AI-powered cameras can count the approximate number of people in an area at any given point, in real time. Police used this data to prevent a stampede situation even when the crowds crossed 3.5 crore on one day — on Makar Sankranti which fell on Jan. 14.

“There are also other equipment deployed, like drones with cameras and also smart buoys. These buoys can be deployed remotely to bring a drowning person to shore,” added Krishna.

There are three more auspicious snaan dates which are likely going to test the arrangements of the UP government and the UP Police. Basant Panchami, which falls on Feb. 3, Maghi Purnima on Feb. 12 and the grand finale of the Mahakumbh on Mahashivratri which falls on Feb. 26.

As pilgrims pour in through overloaded trains, buses, flights and cars, the Mahakumbh is all set to break several records in terms of crowd management, policing and efficiency of administration.

• Check out the UP government website to plan your trip: www.kumbh.gov.in.

• Send ‘Hi’ via WhatsApp on +91-8887847135 to access AI chatbot.

• Mahakumbh helpline number: 1920.

• Mela Police helpline number: 1944.

• Fire services number: 1945.

• Food and supplies: 1010.

• Ambulance helpline: 102/108.

• Transport Corporation toll-free number: 18001802877.

• Railway helpline: 18004199139.