VIP passes cancelled, route to ghats now one-way

AT THE MAHA KUMBH SITE NEAR THE SANGAM

- MAULSHREE SETH

MUDDY FOOTWEAR, SOME single, some in pairs, are strewn near the Sangam ghat. So are colourful clothes and backpack—telltale signs of the stampede that claimed at least 30 lives a day ago and left another 60 injured at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.

As a dense fog envelops the ghat, families and friends move in single file, holding on to a security rope and looking behind nervously to check on their loved ones. A shawl or a dupatta tied to their waist binds them all together so that they don’t lose each other. As they walk, there are regular announcements from PA systems to guide them to the ghats. Security personnel, stationed at regular intervals, help the devotees.

The day after the stampede, traces of the incident are still visible—not only in the increased security detail and police pickets all the way to the ghat but also in the demeanour of the nervous devotees and the uneasy calm there.

Ambulances are now parked as close to the ghat as possible.