Maha Kumbh is over, now for the hard part: Dismantling Mela city over 4,000 hectares

Authorities have to dismantle, clean and store away about 2 lakh tents, over 1.5 lakh portable toilets, 2.69 lakh chequered aluminium plates used for laying roads, about 1,300 km of water pipeline, over 56,000 water taps, 80 temporary tubewells, over 52,000 electric polls, over 70,000 LED lights, over 200 km of sewage pipes, over 800 signages, 2,700 CCTV cameras and 31 pantoon bridges. It also means dismantling about 23 hospitals and first-aid posts.

Authorities then have to ensure one more major task is completed — ensuring water quality in the area is up to the mark, especially since the National Green Tribunal previously pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government over it during the Maha Kumbh.

“There are various steps and different levels of monitoring —uninstallation, verification, preparing and tracking Rs 1,000 crore-worth of inventory. We have set a target of 15 days to bring the city back to Ground Zero. Then, we will need to pass the zero-discharge test of the NGT,” Vijay Kiran Anand, the Mela Adhikari, said.

According to authorities, the inventoried items that can be stored away for later use will be put in godowns and will eventually be repurposed for the annual Magh Mela next year. Other items will be sent to districts that need them, officials said.

Significantly, while the preparation for Kumbh had started over a year ago, it wasn’t until October — when the river had receded after a delayed monsoon season — that the city began to be set up. The entire city stretches 14 km on the banks of the river and is divided into 25 sectors.

According to officials, the dismantling will involve several departments such as urban development, irrigation, public works, power, and health. However, a significant portion of the work — such as cleaning and dismantling the 1.5 lakh toilets and urinals, the 1,300 km-long water pipelines and 200 km-long drainage lines, and uninstalling tube wells and water taps in tents, kitchens and other accommodations — will lie with the urban development and irrigation departments.

An official involved in the cleanup said third-party verification began soon after the Mela wrapped up on February 26.

“This is crucial because all payments and bills are generated on that basis. Verification is complete in about 20 of 25 sectors and will be completed in the rest in 2-3 days. Meanwhile, dismantling and inventorisation have already partially begun,” he said.

“As I understand,  verification is nearly complete,” Amit Singh, the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam managing director, said. “Simultaneously, we are dismantling pipelines in coordination with the Mela Authority. For example, some water pipelines will not be dismantled just yet since toilets will need to be cleaned before they are uninstalled and sent into storage.”

About 485 km of ductile iron piles and about 785 km of galvanised iron pipelines were supplying water in the temporary city.

Another massive task is uninstalling pontoon bridges built across the Mela city. There were 31 such pontoon bridges – temporary structures built by making large and hollow containers called pontoons float on water – and the responsibility for their dismantling lies with the PWD, officials said.

“About 3,308 pontoons were used to build the 31 bridges… Verification is ongoing, and uninstallation will pick up speed in the next two days,” Surendra Singh, a PWD executive engineer, said, adding that about 1,000 pontoons would be used to make similar bridges for the Magh Mela next year, while the rest will be sent to the districts that need them.

But the most consuming task, according to him, is dismantling 651 km of road built with metallic chequered plates. “Over 2 lakh such plates were used to lay down about 651 km of roads in 25 sectors of the Kumbh Mela area. There were also 850 signages,” he said.

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