Didn’t allow Mahakumbh stampede to be highlighted to avoid panic, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Addressing a gathering of IIM and Indian Postal Service officials at an event on ‘Nation Building through the Successful Organisation of Mahakumbh’, Adityanath spoke at length for the first time about the stampede that took place early on January 29 on the occasion of Mauni Amawasya, ahead of the holy bath in the river.

“The crowd is like water current in a river… whenever an attempt is made to stop the current, it will either force its way out or spread and cause damage. This happened that night when there was a huge gathering present at the site and everyone wanted to take the holy bath at 4 am. Since Mauni Amawasya started at 7.30 pm on January 28, the crowd swelled and the incident happened between 1 am and 1.30 am,” he said.

“There was a crowd of 4 crore people, including devotees, present in the Mahakumbh area while a similar number of people were present in Prayagraj city, moving to or from Mahakumbh. Over 2 lakh vehicles were parked in neighbouring districts…, waiting to be allowed to reach the Mahakumbh. We did not allow the news of the stampede to be highlighted as it could have caused panic among such a huge crowd. We managed the situation and circumstances,” the Chief Minister said.

Adityanath said that apart from the huge number of devotees, sadhus from 13 Akharas were also scheduled to take the holy bath that morning. “The bath of Akharas is always a challenge as there used to be violence over who would take the dip first. The bath had to begin at 4 am, and despite the stampede all the Akharas were ready. But at 3 am, I requested them to postpone their bath because an incident had occurred,” he said, adding that officials closely monitored the crowd, evacuated the Sangam area by noon, and ensured that the holy bath resumed by 2.30 pm.

Dismissing reports about the high level of fecal coliform in the Ganga, Adityanath said, “The then Prime Minister of Mauritius had refused to take a dip in the Ganga during the 2013 Kumbh after seeing the filth in the river. We had that in mind from the very first day and had decided that no sewer or nullah leaks into Ganga or Yamuna. The most critical point of Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh is in Kanpur. Over 4 crore litres of sewage water used to flow into Ganga everyday at Sisamau point for 125 years. We resolved this three years ago.”

“At Jajmau point in Kanpur, toxic effluents from tanneries were being discharged into Ganga, which also caused death of water species. We controlled that as well two years ago and got CCTVs installed at all tanneries and monitored them round the clock. We connected over 200 sewers with the sewage treatment plant in Prayagraj to ensure that not even one drop of sewage water is released into the Ganga.”

“But there was fake reporting on it (river pollution)… Both government and private labs were conducting investigations and samples of water were exchanged as well to check those. We took samples of water regularly between January 11 and February 26 and, whenever it was taken, the measure of BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) at Sangam was found below 3. The dissolved oxygen at Sangam was above 10 always,” he said.

BOD is a measure of the amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to break down organic matter in water over a fixed period, usually 5 days, at 20°C. High BOD means higher organic pollution in a river. This leads to oxygen depletion resulting in suffocation of fish or other aquatic organisms. The CPCB limit for BOD in instances of “organised bathing outdoors” is 3 mg per litre or less, which means the river is healthy and not very polluted.

High BOD means higher organic pollution in a river. This leads to oxygen depletion resulting in suffocation of fish or other aquatic organisms. The CPCB limit for BOD in instances of “organised bathing outdoors” is 3 mg per litre or less, which means the water is considered safe.

Talking about reports in the media on pollution, the Chief Minister said: “The claims were based on the CPCB report. It is possible that their samples were taken from points where animal feces contaminated the water or at a point where the river water was already contaminated. Whenever we took samples from Sangam between January 11 and February 13, the measure of fecal coliform was up to 100 while the permissible limit is 25,000.”

“The measure of fecal coliform in samples taken from few other points away from Sangam was around 1,200-1,300 probably because buffaloes are taken to those points and their feces increased the measure of fecal coliform. We had been monitoring other points as well and that was the reason we challenged it (the reports)…. You take our samples as our teams are challenging it and there are two labs present here and investigate these accordingly. Ultimately, the CPCB had to accept it.”

Adityanath also highlighted the global participation at the Mahakumbh, including dignitaries from more than 100 countries. He said the Central and state governments spent Rs 7,500 crore, out of which Rs 6,000 crore was dedicated to enhancing the infrastructure of Prayagraj and its surroundings.

“Those who arrived with faith witnessed a profound expression of devotion, while others found opportunities for growth and prosperity,” he said.