Haridwar, January 14
The first holy bath of the century’s and Uttarakhand state’s first Maha Kumbh started with a bang with lakhs of devotees taking a holy dip on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
Since early morning, the Har-ki-Pauri mela zone was thronged by pilgrims and by the time sun shone in the sky, much to the surprise of people as for the past few days Haridwar has been waking up to a foggy weather, lakhs had already taken a dip in the holy Ganga waters.
Owing to the recent heavy rain in hilly regions, there was a good flow in the Ganga. Extra cusecs of water has also been released from Tehri Dam in view of the Maha Kumbh’s back-to-back holy baths on January 14 and 15 and this was visible in the flow. Naveen Singh, Executive Engineer, Northern Division Ganges Canal (NDGC), said it was being ensured that there was no problem to the pilgrims on account of the water level in the Ganga.
In fact, the influx of pilgrims and devotees in Haridwar had started yesterday. Late in the night it seemed Haridwar hadn’t slept with people and vehicles in thousands coming towards the city from different parts of the country.
The mela administration took this bath as a trial of their preparations for the mega Shahi baths starting from next month. The first Shahi baths falls on February 12, followed by Somwati Amawasya Shahi bath on March 14. The third and main Shahi bath falls on Mesh Sankranti on April 14.
