New Delhi: A phenomenal rush of devotees is heading towards Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj for the holy dip on Magh Purnima. To regulate this surge of devotees, a traffic advisory has been issued which will be applicable from February 10 to February 13.
A press release was issued on Monday in which information about the route chart and parking for 11 districts was spelt out. The press release said that in view of the Maghi Purnima festival on February 12, for the seamless movement and security of the devotees coming to the fair area, the following traffic diversion/parking arrangement is proposed for all vehicles coming to the fair area:
Movement of all types of vehicles, except administrative/medical vehicles, will be prohibited in the Maha Kumbh Mela area from 20.00 pm (8pm) on 10.02.2025 to 08.00 am on 13.02.2025 or till the end of the crowd.”
Devotees coming to the Maha Kumbh Mela area will be able to park their vehicles at the 36 designated ‘parking’ lots:
Vehicles coming from Jaunpur will be parked at
1– Chini Mill Parking
2– Poore Surdas Parking Garapur Road
3– Samayamai Temple Kachhar Parking
4– Badra Saunauti Rahimpur Road North/South Parking.
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Jaunpur will park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area on foot via Old GT Road.
Vehicles coming from Varanasi will be parked at
1– Mahua Bagh Police Station Jhunsi Parking [Akhada Parking]
2– Saraswati Parking Jhunsi Railway Station
3– Nageshwar Temple Parking
4– Gyan Ganga Ghat Chhatnag Parking
5– Shiv Mandir Ustapur Mahmudabad Parking.
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Varanasi will park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area on foot through Chhatnag road.
Vehicles coming from Mirzapur will be parked at
1– Devrakh Uparhar Parking North/South
2– Tent City Parking Madanua/Mavaiya/Devrakh
3– Omaxe City Parking
4– Ghazia Parking North/South.
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Mirzapur will be able to park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area on foot from Arail Dam Road.
Vehicles coming from Rewa-Banda-Chitrakoot will be parked at
1– Navprayag Parking East/West/Extension
2– Agriculture Institute Parking Yamuna Patti
3– Mahewa East/West Parking
4– Meerakhpur Kachhar Parking.
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Rewa-Banda-Chitrakoot will be able to park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area via Arail Dam on foot through Old Rewa Road and New Rewa Road.
Vehicles coming from Kanpur-Kaushambi will be parked at
1– Kali Extension Plot No. 17 Parking
2– Allahabad Degree College Ground
3– Parking Dadhikando Ground Parking
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Kanpur-Kaushambi will be able to park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area via Kali Marg via GT Jawahar Chauraha on foot.
Vehicles coming from Lucknow-Pratappur will be parked at
1– Gangeshwar Mahadev Kachhar Parking
2– Nagvasuki Parking
3– Bakshi Dam Kachhar Parking
4– Bada Bagda Parking 01/02/03
5– IERT Parking North/South Parking.
Instructions: Vehicles coming from Lucknow-Pratapgarh will be able to park their vehicles in the above parking lots and enter the fair area via the pedestrian route of Navas.
Vehicles coming from Ayodhya-Pratapgarh will be parked at Shiv Baba Parking. They will be able to park their vehicles in this parking lot and enter the fair area on foot from Sangam Lower Road.
Route for bathers and devotees arriving on foot in the fair area:
1. Footpath to reach Sangam- Devotees/bathers coming to Sangam can enter from GT Jawahar, come to Kali Road and go to Sangam via Kali Ramp and then Sangam Upper Road.
2. Return route on foot from Sangam – From Sangam area, one can return to one’s destination via Akshayvat Marg, inter-locking return route Triveni Marg.
The entry route to Sangam Mela area is proposed to be Jawaharlal Nehru Marg Kali Sadak and the exit route is Triveni Marg. Akshayvat will remain closed for darshan during the days of major bathing festivals.
All routes bursting with vehicles
A massive surge in the pilgrims put enormous pressure on the national and state highways linking Prayagraj to neighbouring districts, including Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Kaushambi, Sultanpur, and Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
Nearly all these routes are bursting with vehicles, even as police and security personnel are on their toes and regulating traffic movement while maintaining law and order.
For the last four days, the traffic snarl on the Rewa-Prayagraj highway has refused to abate, causing huge inconvenience to both devotees and local residents. The situation is particularly severe near the Gauhania overbridge, where the Rewa and Chitrakoot highways intersect. Serpentine vehicle queues have build up on both routes. A similar traffic jam can be seen at the UP-MP border near Chakghat, and on the Naini-Mirzapur route. Residents of neighbouring districts are left stranded for hours in the jams. Many of them have been sharing video reels of the nightmarish congestion on social media platforms. On Monday, extreme congestion on the roads leading to Prayagraj caused a 300-km long traffic jam.
