Akhilesh Yadav urges to extend Mahakumbh dates, slams UP govt for "bad" facilities

Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 17 (ANI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday urged the Uttar Pradesh government to extend the dates for Mahakumbh, saying that many devotees have not visited the holy congregation because of "bad" facilities and recent incidents.
Yadav also accused the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government of 'hiding' the death toll of the stampede that happened in Prayagraj on January 29.
Speaking to press, Yadav said, "As per the information received nowadays from people who have returned from there, the facilities there are really bad. CM had said that they are making arrangements for 100 crore people but that many people haven't even gone, only a few crores have gone but still, all the facilities have gone down the hill, stampede happened, till now, the actual death toll has not come out."
"People spent hours on the road during night due to long traffic jams, so many people lost lives in various accidents. I demand that the time of Kumbh should be extended," Yadav added.
30 people reportedly lost their lives at the stampede that occurred on the occasion of the Mauni Amavasya bathing ritual on January 29.
After Mauni Amavasya stampede, another incident of stampede happened in New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday around 10 pm when thousands of devotees were heading to Prayagraj for the Mahakumbh 2025 festival and some to other destinations in that direction, causing severe overcrowding at the station. Around 18 people died in the incident.
Delhi Police has said that confusion over the trains led to the stampede. The confusion happened because of the announcement of the trains having the same name starting with 'Prayagraj' and platforms they were supposed to be at.
Police further said that the announcement of the Prayagraj Special arriving at Platform 16 led to confusion because Prayagraj Express was already at Platform 14.
"People who couldn't reach their train at Platform 14 thought their train was arriving at Platform 16, leading to the stampede," police said.
Mahakumbh 2025, which commenced on Paush Purnima (January 13, 2025), is the world's largest spiritual and cultural gathering, attracting devotees from across the globe. The grand event will continue till Mahashivratri on February 26.
Over 52 crore devotees have taken holy dip so far at the world's largest human gathering as of Monday morning. (ANI)