At the beginning of the Maha Kumbh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had projected that the event would see over 45 crore devotees visit Sangam city and take a holy dip, a milestone already achieved by February 16.
To put that into context, the number of devotees who have taken the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam is greater than the population of any country in the world, except for India and China.
By February 14, the number of bathers crossed 50 crores, with 12 days and one Amrit Snan still remaining. The total count is now expected to soar beyond 55 to 60 crores, officials said.
A closer look at the pilgrimage highlights the overwhelming participation on key bathing days, with Mauni Amavasya on January 29, seeing the most significant gathering, with 8 crore devotees taking the holy dip. It was the same day when 30 people died in a stampede at the Triveni ghat.
On Makar Sankranti (January 14), a total of 3.5 crore devotees participated in the Amrit Snan.
On Basant Panchami, 2.57 crore devotees participated in the ritual bathing. The significant bathing festival of Maghi Purnima also saw over two crore devotees at Triveni Sangam.
With the Maha Kumbh 2025 continuing to draw millions, this spiritual congregation is on track to become the largest in human history, officials hoped.
The Maha Kumbh will conclude on February 26
In preparation for the Maha Kumbh, an extensive project was carried out at Sangam Ghat, where 16,000 workers worked tirelessly for 80 days to create 26 hectares of additional land.
The Ganga, which was previously flowing in three separate streams, could not form a proper confluence due to the presence of small islands. To ensure a smooth flow and accommodate more devotees, a large-scale dredging process was undertaken under the supervision of the irrigation department and municipal corporation.
Workers from Clean Tech Infra Company used heavy machinery to remove sandbanks, widen the riverbanks, and reclaim land for devotees.
The project aimed to provide a larger bathing area for the millions of pilgrims arriving for the Maha Kumbh. During this time, the workers faced several challenges, including strong river currents, whirlpools, and diseases like dengue. Many of them missed festivals and family gatherings, while some had to perform scuba diving in the Ganga to install heavy pipes weighing 80 kg and 350 mm in diameter.
Using four dredgers weighing between 20 to 40 tons, the workers removed nearly 700,000 cubic meters of sand from the river, an amount enough to fill 187 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Their efforts led to the recovery of a 26-hectare area, including a 2-hectare stretch known as 'Sangam Nose', the exact point where the Ganga and Yamuna rivers meet. With this expansion, the site will now be able to accommodate nearly 200,000 more devotees compared to 2019.
Speaking to Aaj Tak, Gaurav Chopra, Managing Editor of Clean Tech Infra Company, said the project was crucial in ensuring proper confluence for the pilgrims.
He explained that due to the presence of islands, the rivers could not merge smoothly, but after dredging, the Ganga now flows as a single stream into the Sangam. The team also worked on cleaning the river on a war footing, ensuring that the extracted sand was used to expand the ghat area while waste materials were recycled efficiently.
Officials took up this project after a report from IIT Guwahati highlighted the need to streamline the river's flow near Shastri Bridge. Initially, the Kumbh Mela administration attempted to complete the work using its resources, but due to its complexity, the task was handed over to the irrigation department.
The department quickly mobilised dredgers from Bahraich to Prayagraj, which were transported in separate parts using flatbed trailer trucks, taking five days to reach the site.
Deploying these dredgers into the river was another massive task, requiring 75 labourers, a 120-ton capacity crane, three 14-ton Hydra cranes, and a backhoe excavator. After months of relentless work, the project was successfully completed, allowing millions of devotees to perform their sacred bath at the Sangam without obstruction.
At least 103 devotees were killed in a bid to reach to the destination and to join the rituals , 39 people were killed in stampede at th festival, 20 at Delhi railway station .29 January 2025, crowd crushes occurred at the 2025 Prayag Kumbh Mela at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj,in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. At least 30[4] people were killed, while 90 others were injured. This is the sixth crowd crush during the Kumbh Mela in the past 70 years. A second crush in the following hours killed seven people including a three-year-old child. The official death toll count has been disputed, with reports suggesting the actual number of fatalities being higher than the government’s figure. A Newslaundry report based on hospital and police records claims the death toll to be at least 79. These discrepancies have led to criticism of the government’s handling of the incident and calls for greater transparency.
The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu festival which is held every 12 years and lasts for around six weeks. It is considered as one of the most important festivals in the Hindu religious calendar. The 2025 edition was expected to see 400 million people in attendance. Multiple crowd crushes have occurred during the festival, with at least 400 people dying in the 1954 edition and 36 killed in an incident at Railway station at 2013.
Incident
The incident occurred during the Amrit Snan on Mauni Amavasya,[13] which was regarded as the most important day of the festival.On the day of the incident, around 100 million people were expected to be in attendance.[11] The crush started at around 1 am IST, when the crowd surged forward to bathe at the confluence of three rivers, which is considered the holiest place to bathe.[3][15] The festival's special executive officer Akanksha Rana said the incident began after a festival barrier broke,[12] while Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath blamed the incident on devotees trying to cross over barricades delineating the designated bathing area for akharas
As pilgrims tried to escape from the site of the first crush, which officials said was "not serious", they were caught up in another crowd crush at an exit. They then returned towards the pontoon bridges looking for another exit, generating another crush when it was found that the bridges had been closed by authorities.Some attendees resorted to jumping over barricades.Officials tried to divert incoming crowds away from the site of the crush and told them using megaphones to bathe at other locations but were sidelined by attendees.[16]
Conflicting reports emerged over the number of casualties, with the number of deaths ranging from 79 to 103, and the number of injured estimated to be at least 200. The Guardian reported that at least 39 people were killed in stampede at festival, 20 killed at Delhi railway station in stampede, with the death toll expected to rise. An investigation by agencies put the toll at 97. A sting operation conducted by 4PM news network, reported the death toll as 58.[19] The victims were transported to makeshift hospitals at the festival site as well as a hospital in Prayagraj city.
Some of them were sleeping on the river bank when they were trampled on by other worshippers trying to bathe. Others sleeping on the river bank were beaten with wooden sticks by police trying to move them before the crowds arrived. Authorities initially denied that the crush or casualties had occurred before announcing on the evening of 29 January that at least 30 people had died.
Despite the crush, the festival continued, with about 30 million people having taken a bath in the area by 8 am on 29 January.[26] Authorities banned vehicles, except for police vehicles, administration vehicles, ambulances, and other essential service providers, from entering the festival grounds until 4 February.[27][25]
