Fair administration taking stock of preparations for Magh fair before Mauni Amavasya on Friday
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the number of devotees during the Magh Mela in Prayagraj after the state government informed it about its preparedness and guidelines for crowd checking. Has been. of people in one place. Earlier, this PIL was filed before the High Court, seeking a direction to the state government to limit the number of devotees taking a holy dip in the river Ganga during the Magh Mela in Prayagraj this year.
However, during the hearing, Additional Advocate General Manish Goel, representing the state government, submitted that the government has already issued guidelines to be followed by the devotees visiting the Magh Mela.
He further said that a separate Prayagraj Mela Authority has been set up to oversee all the arrangements and prevent crowding of people at one place. Further, in order to advise the people to take all precautions and not create crowd in the Mela areas, they will issue public notices through various communication channels regarding the restrictions and guidelines issued by the Government for the purpose to the devotees and potential Will inform the devotees. Disposing of the PIL filed by Utkarsh Mishra and others, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Piyush Agrawal, in its judgment dated January 25, observed that in view of the stand taken by the respondent – Government of Uttar Pradesh, this petition stands disposed of. . ,
The PIL, filed by Utkarsh Mishra and others, had contended that the religious congregation was found responsible for spreading the deadly virus across the country in the last two years.
In this backdrop of the situation, the PIL sought a direction to the court to limit the participation in the Magh Mela, one of the largest religious congregations in the world.
The PIL states that only saints of ‘akharas’ should be allowed to take holy dip on the dates of Shahi Snan, so as to prevent huge gathering of devotees on those auspicious dates. It was also requested that RT-PCR test be made mandatory on the arrival of the visiting pilgrims.
It was further submitted that the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, held during the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in a large number of infections and was thus voluntarily closed by the saints of various ‘akharas’. It has been said in the petition that the devotees who returned to their native places after visiting the Kumbh in Haridwar were found to be super spreaders.
“Organizing such a large-scale event in the wake of the COVID-19 third wave is putting the residents of Prayagraj as well as the state of Uttar Pradesh at unnecessary risk. Also, organizing the Magh Mela, which is of great religious importance and all the preparations As camps, electricity, water and sanitation have already been set up, it is not desirable to discontinue this religious event at this time,” it was submitted in the PIL.
FacebookTwitterLinkedinE-mail
,