Security tightened as devotees gather for Gangasagar Mela in West Bengal

South 24 Parganas
While all eyes are on Ayodhya as the city prepares to host a long line of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of the opening of the grand Ram Temple on January 22, a popular pilgrimage site in another part of the country has also decked up to receive devotees and pilgrims by their thousands.
On the eve of Makar Sankranti, the Sagar Islands in the South 24 Parganas district of Bengal had a festive air about it as it prepared to host the annual Gangasagar Mela, starting Saturday. The second-largest fair after Kumbh Mela, the Gangasagar Mela starts on the pious day of Makar Sankranti, which generally falls between January 14 and 15 every year.
The annual fair at one of the oldest and leading prilgrimage sites in the country draws devotees every year, who also take a holy dip in the sacred waters of the Ganga at Sagardweep, from where the river merges with the Bay of Bengal. In an exclusive chat with ANI on Friday, the district magistrate of South 24 Parganas, Sumit Gupta, spoke on the security arrangements for the devotees, who have fetched up in their thousands for the event.
“Preparations for this mega fair have been underway for the last five to six months. Many departments were involved in the preparations. A dedicated control room was opened in order to track of the movement of visitors, pilgrims and seers at the fair. All arrangements have been made to ensure public safety and also to make sure that there is no inconvenience to pilgrims and devotees. We are tracking the feed from 1,145 CCTVs installed at the fair ground from the mega control room here. Be it the devotees or travellers, all information is shared real-time with the police, crowd control team and other authorities,” Gupta said.
“More than 14,000 police personnel have been deployed at the fair. Senior police officers are among the personnel deployed as part of the security arangements. Everything, from drop-gate arrangements to police assistant booths, has been provided for at various places for traffic management along the route — from Kolkata to Lot 8, Kakdweep via Outram Ghat. The police are also keeping an eye on the traffic arrangements from Kochuberia to Sagar Islands. Many buffer zones have been created to ensure that the movement of buses remains smooth. As many as 12 to 14 jetties are functional. Lot 8 and Kachubariya Point have a total of six jetties. There are 38 vessels. Our PTMS Pilgrim traffic management system with a mega control room has been installed inside every vessel. All the buses ferrying visitors to the islands are GPS-enabled. We are the tracking the movement of these vehicles live through GPS,” the DM added.
On the medical facilities and arrangements to mobilise immediate response in the event of a medical emergency, the DM said, “The fair was very successful last year and we are hoping for an encore this year.
There should not be any kind of problem for the passengers and devotees. Ambulances, mobile healthcare units, equipped with ICU, have been put on standby at the fair ground.
We have five temporary hospitals and more than 300 beds on the Sagar Islands. Beds have also been reserved in the leading hospitals of Kolkata. We have also arranged for one air ambulance, water ambulances, around 100 regular ambulances, 7 ALS ambulances, and advanced life-saving ambulances. They are all there.
Yesterday, two people were airlifted and today, we have lifted three more.