55 lakh take holy dip at Gangasagar on 'Makar Sankranti'

Kolkata, Jan 15 (PTI) Altogether 55 lakh pilgrims took the holy dip at Gangasagar, the confluence of the Hooghly river and the Bay of Bengal, in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti', officials said on Wednesday.

Thirty lakh devotees took the dip till Tuesday afternoon and the remaining 25 lakhs till early Wednesday morning as the rituals ended, the officials said.

The auspicious moment for the holy dip began at 6:58 am on January 14 and lasted for 24 hours till Wednesday morning.

After the holy dip, thousands of pilgrims were seen heading back to their destinations across the country.

More than 1.1 crore pilgrims visited Gangasagar Mela from January 1 to 15, officials said.

Thousands of pilgrims have already started for their destinations after completing the rituals.

Altogether six pilgrims - four from Uttar Pradesh, one each from Haryana and Chhattisgarh - died of cold and age-related ailments on the Sagar islands in the last few days, while nine have been successfully airlifted to Kolkata for treatment.

As part of the green campaign, the authorities will clean up the fairground and the beach on January 16 morning to restore it to its earlier look.

Around 13,000 policemen and 2,500 civil defence personnel, apart from disaster management teams and the Indian Coast Guard, were monitoring the activities at the 'Gangasagar Mela', the officials said.

The festival this year coincided with the Maha Kumbh, being held in Uttar Pradesh.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier demanded a national status tag for the 'Gangasagar Mela'. PTI SUS BDC