Crores of devotees flocked to Prayagraj on Monday. When more than 200 lakh people arrived, the authorities miscalculated. Vehicles are in a queue for 300 km to enter Prayagraj. Huge traffic jam (approximately the distance from Palakkad to Thiruvananthapuram)
Thousands of devotees heading to the Maha Kumbh are stuck on highways due to massive traffic jams. Some are still stranded on the roads even after 48 hours. Days after the Amrit Snan of Basant Panchmi, there were speculations that the crowd would reduce. However, now it has miscalculated and surged. Crores of people continue to travel to Prayagraj for the holy dip.
“As traffic is difficult to control, police in several districts of the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh have blocked vehicular traffic on a route to Prayagraj. Reports quoting police said that it is impossible to travel to Prayagraj today due to the 200-300 km traffic jam. It will take about 10-12 hours to cover just 50 km,” said a person stuck in traffic.
Jams of up to 250 km have been reported on routes leading to Prayagraj from Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur. Prayagraj Sangam railway station has been closed to avoid any untoward incident. Railway officer Kuldeep Tiwari said that the decision to close the station was taken keeping in mind the rush of devotees as there was a huge crowd outside Prayagraj Sangam station, making it difficult for passengers to get out.
