Lucknow: The 11th meeting of the apex committee of Prayagraj Mahakumbh Mela 2025 was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh.
In his address, the Chief Secretary said that only a few months are left for the organization of Mahakumbh Mela 2025, the Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary of the concerned departments should conduct a site inspection and ensure that the work of the projects under construction is completed within the stipulated time with the prescribed standards and quality.
Arrangements should be made for the best facilities for the devotees and the Sangam area and the ghats should be made clean and beautiful. There should be no shortage of any kind in the preparations. The vertical garden should be well maintained.
He said that a library should be established in the fair area. Textbooks related to Sanatan Dharma and culture and Mahakumbh should be kept in the library, so that the devotees coming to the fair area can increase their knowledge by reading the book. Proper arrangements should also be made for the stay of sanitation workers.
In the meeting, the proposal of the Public Works Department for widening and strengthening of Raina Marg at a cost of Rs 281.84 lakh was approved for safe and smooth traffic movement during the Maha Kumbh Mela period. This road goes from Triveni Marg to Samudrakup Marg. The proposal of Rs 798.17 lakh of the Public Works Department for construction of temporary warehouse, temporary boundary wall and access road along with other store related work for temporary stores for Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj district was approved.
In the same sequence, in the meeting, as per the advice given by the experts of IIT-Guwahati for Maha Kumbh, in-principle consent was given for the work related to increase of circulating area from Shastri Bridge to Sangam edge on the right bank of river Ganga in Prayagraj district at a cost of Rs 1957.71 lakh, along with this, the Irrigation Department was directed to prepare a relevant proposal and send it to the Urban Development Department. It was also said that further action should be ensured by the Urban Development Department.
The proposal of Prayagraj Municipal Corporation to engage 3200 additional cleaning workers for cleaning work in Maha Kumbh through outsourcing for 90 days was approved in the meeting. Rs 1435.32 lakh will be spent on this. Similarly, a proposal of Rs 362.54 lakh was approved for the supply of cleaning equipment and pesticides for cleaning work.
A proposal of Rs 125.86 lakh was approved for the construction of pre-cast toilets at railway stations located in Prayagraj city for the convenience of devotees. Apart from this, a proposal of Rs 73.62 lakh for the arrangement of processing of solid waste generated within the Kumbh Mela area, Rs 203.78 lakh for tree plantation and beautification work in Shri Krishna Park, Rs 107.34 lakh for tree plantation and beautification work in Tikona Park located at Lalla Chungi and a proposal of Rs 382.56 lakh for the electrical connection work of 200 TPD bio CNG plant was approved.
Four Guinness World Records will be made in Mahakumbh-2025. Through this, the fair administration will give the message of green and clean Mahakumbh to the whole world. A total of Rs 4.87 crore will be spent on this. A parade of one thousand e-rickshaws will be taken out by the fair administration, which will be a record. A record of cleaning the ghats will be made through 15 thousand people simultaneously. Apart from this, another record will also be made for cleaning the rivers. 300 people will enter the river together and will give the message of cleanliness to the whole world along with giving impetus to the cleaning campaign. A record will be made for making handprint printing by 10 thousand people in just eight hours in Ganga pandal and fair area. This proposal was approved by the apex committee in the meeting.
Apart from this, a proposal of Rs 95.53 lakh was approved for the overall evaluation of Mahakumbh-2025 by IIT-Kanpur. The team of IIT Kanpur will present a report after researching police security and their deployment plans, traffic and movement experience of devotees, planning of all the works related to the fair, organization and project management strategies and socio-economic impact of the fair.
A proposal of Rs 2847.40 lakh was approved for purchasing 20,000 pieces of 9 meter steel tubular poles for temporary electrification works in the Mahakumbh Mela. Similarly, a proposal of Rs 19.304 lakh for construction of a permanent police station in Prayagraj Mela Authority and Rs 48.61 lakh for renovation and strengthening of Yamuna Guest House in Police Line Commissionerate, Prayagraj was approved. A proposal of Rs 965.08 lakh of the Food and Logistics Department was approved for the work of providing food grains, sugar and LPG at the price fixed by the government to the Kalpvasis and devotees coming to Mahakumbh.
In the same sequence, approval was given to the proposal of Prayagraj Development Authority of Rs. 347.95 lakh for developing vertical gardens on Shastri Bridge and Phaphamau Bridge. Approval was given to the proposal of Prayagraj Development Authority of Rs. 497.80 lakh for Yamuna River Front. The main attractions of this river front are water laser show and boat club etc. Similarly, Rs. 10 lakh of Tourism Department for providing souvenirs to ambassadors and VIPs coming from different countries in Maha Kumbh and meeting hall, guest house and sanitation centre for various works in Vikas Bhawan.
Approval was given to a proposal of Rs 370.92 lakh for the construction of ICC and viewing room for monitoring of patients. Approval was given to Moti Lal Nehru Medical College’s proposal of Rs 230 lakh for setting up a 12-bed burn unit under the National Program for Burn Surgery and a 26-bed burn unit under the Rani Laxmibai Mahila Samman Kosh Yojana.
Principal Secretary Urban Development Amrit Abhijat, Principal Secretary Tourism Mukesh Meshram, Principal Secretary Public Works Ajay Chauhan, Principal Secretary Medical Education Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma, Principal Secretary Information Sanjay Prasad, Fair Officer Vijay Kiran Anand, Information Director Shishir and other senior officers of the concerned departments were present in the meeting. Apart from this, Divisional Commissioner, District Magistrate and senior officers of Prayagraj were present through video conferencing.
