49 lakh to 21: Mobility data narrows down the number of Kumbh

As the second Kovid wave swept across the country, the Uttarakhand government officially announced that on the three major days of Kumbh, April 12, 13 and 14, a total of 49 lakh devotees took a dip in the Ganges at Har Ki. Pauri and connected ghats in Haridwar. In the fire for this gathering – the Uttarakhand High Court last week called Kumbh a “mistake” – after a detailed review by state government and district administration officials, the attendance figure was down to around 70%, a It is estimated that 15 lakhs for these three days. When contacted, Kumbh Mela Inspector General of Police Sanjay Gunjyal said: “On April 12, there was a crowd of only 21 lakh people; Around 3 lakh on 13 April and about 12 lakh on 14 April. ” This is much lower than the government’s earlier claim. In April, it said that on April 12, more than 31 million people took a dip in another royal glory; 4.5 lakh as on April 13; And 13 on 14 April. More than 5 lakhs. When asked about this significant decline, Gunjyal told The Indian Express: “Earlier figures were based on headcount. But the data for April 12 was calculated incorrectly by adding the data for the other days.

. Senior officials said that the actual crowd was around 15 lakhs as compared to the revised estimate of 36 lakhs of Gunjyal. This, he said, is based on a review of all key mobility indicators, including occupancy figures for all hotels in the district, vacancies in registered parking lots, presence of cellphones from mobile towers, and passenger traffic for vehicular and all trains. Huh. And from Haridwar. On 1 April, when the Kumbh formally began, there were 626 active cases in the district, on 30 April the number rose to 11,075 – 90 deaths in April. Consider the major mobility findings: Between April 10-15, a total of 9.55 lakh people using cars, two-wheelers, buses came to Haridwar. During this time less than 40,000 came by trains. Railway data shows that the special Kumbh train announced for April 1 started only on April 12 and 1, It left with only 140 passengers against a capacity of 200. The next day the train was canceled due to reduced traffic. A total of 38 trains (19 up and 19 down) ran during the Kumbh as compared to more than 100 in 2010. A total of 10.95 lakh people checked in at 537 hotels and 260 Dharamshalas for a period of five days.

According to all mobile tower data between April 11 and April 14, the total number of out-of-state cell phones: 1.68 lakh. Fair officer Deepak Rawat said: “Obviously, the footfall was very low compared to what has been presented. It was negligible in all the ghats (there are 107 ghats in the fair area) except Har ki Pauri. A senior official said, “Even if we assume that 5 lakh population of Haridwar municipality has taken holy dip, the total number is still less than the figure claimed by the government.” Keeping this in mind, the number of crowds does not exceed 21 lakhs, the official said. Sources said that one of the reasons for showing a large crowd could also be political. While outgoing Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat did not want to comment on this, Suryakant Dhasmana, senior vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress, said that the state government exaggerated the footfall data to successfully organize a grand fair and justify the use of the budget. “The footfall was lower than the figures claimed by the government. With such exaggerated figures, the state government tried to hide its failure to make the necessary preparations to save the devotees from Kovid, ”he said. When contacted, cabinet minister and government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal said that the figures for the footfall announced by the administration are correct. “But it is also true that this time there was less crowd of people on the royal bath as compared to the previous Kumbh. Common people came in small numbers, mainly saints who stayed during the Kumbh, ”he said. . The state government tried to hide its failure to make the necessary preparations to save the devotees from Kovid, ”he said. When contacted, cabinet minister and government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal said that the footfall figures announced by the administration are correct. “But it is also true that this time there was less crowd of people on the royal bath as compared to the previous Kumbh.