About 30 lakh pilgrims expected to attend West Bengal's Gangasagar Mela

Gangasagar (West Bengal) [India], January 5 (ANI): After two years of the COVID pandemic, the Gangasagar Mela 2023 is being organised in West Bengal from January 8 to January 17 around the time of the Makar Sankranti festival. The pilgrims have already started pouring for the festival and take a holy dip in the Ganga river.
During the Covid pandemic, the mela which has been organised every year to mark Makar Sankranti in Gangasagar island faced a lot of restrictions due to which a large number of pilgrims could not participate in the festivities.
Around 30 lakh pilgrims are expected at the mela and the government has made all the necessary preparations for the same. Though around 1100 CCTV cameras have been installed to ensure a smooth flow of events in the mela and to maintain security at the site, the government has not issued any guidelines to be followed during the mela.
Earlier, the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while speaking to the press informed about the preparations for the mela. She stated that three helipads had been inaugurated at Gangasagar and a Detail Report Project (DRP) is being prepared for Mourigram bridge as the Gangasagar journey is tough.
She also mentioned that they will provide Rs 5 lakh insurance if any untoward incident takes place between January 8 to 17 in the mela as the holy dip is planned for January 14 to 15.
Tarachand Sonakia, a fellow pilgrim and a resident of Uttar Pradesh spoke about what it means for the Gangasagar mela devotees to dip in the holy river. He said, "Devotees come to Sagar and take a holy dip with certain wishes in order to achieve salvation. Despite the troublesome journey, the devotees come to this holy place just to take a holy dip in the Ganga river. We are happy this year that things have turned normal. Though we have to take precautions for covid but getting a chance to participate in this holy dip of Makar Sakranti is important for the devotees."
While exclusively speaking to ANI, the Chief of Kapil Muni temple Mahant Gyan Das stated, "GangaSagar Mela is the second largest mela after the Kumbh mela. Lakhs of pilgrims visit this holy place. Apart from GangaSagar mela, I request the Bengal government to keep its second name as Sagar Kalash." (ANI)