Prayagraj Sangam railway station was closed due to excessive crowd outside the station. In MP, police vehicles in Katni district made announcements that traffic has been stopped till Monday.
Severe traffic congestion affected the routes leading to the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on Sunday, as long queues of vehicles extended for up to 200-300 kilometers and thousands of travelers were left stranded for hours. The gridlock, primarily caused by pilgrims traveling from Madhya Pradesh which also local police to halt traffic in several districts and asked people to find a safe shelter.
Prayagraj Sangam railway station was closed due to excessive crowd outside the station. In MP, police vehicles in Katni district made announcements that traffic has been stopped till Monday.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav urged both UP and MP government to make emergency arrangements for the stranded devotees.
More than 1.42 crore devotees took bath in Ganga and Sangam till 6 pm on Sunday, according to the data released by the fair administration. More than 42 crore devotees have so far taken a dip in Ganga and Sangam.
Ram Kripal, who came from Rae Bareli, told PTI that he was stuck in the jam for five hours before Phaphamau on the Lucknow Prayagraj highway, adding he somehow parked his vehicle in Bela Kachhar and set out on foot from there to Sangam Ghat.
ADCP (Traffic) Kuldeep Singh told PTI, "The number of vehicles is very high and the passengers are trying to come as close as possible to the Maha Kumbh Mela area. Due to this, there is a long jam.
Singh said that almost the same crowd is coming now as had come on 'Mauni Amavasya'.
The distant parking lot is 50 per cent full. The nearest parking lot is a small parking lot, while the distant parking lot is big, he said.
He said that the vehicles of the local people do not run on the bathing festival, but now all types of vehicles are running.
In the last (2019) Kumbh, there was not so much crowd, especially on normal days, but this time such a huge crowd is coming on normal days, Singh said, adding the crowd of devotees does not seem to reduce for the next few days.
Meanwhile, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Northern Railway), Lucknow, Kuldeep Tiwari, reportedly said, "Since the passengers were facing difficulty in getting out of the station due to heavy crowd outside Prayagraj Sangam station, it was decided to close Prayagraj Sangam station in view of the heavy crowd of devotees."
On the other hand, the North Central Railway has implemented a single direction traffic system at the Prayagraj Junction station till further orders in view of the huge crowd of devotees.
North Central Railway Senior Public Relations Officer Amit Malviya said that for the safety and convenience of the passengers, entry will be given only from the city side (towards platform no.-1) and exit will be only from the Civil Lines side.
He said that unreserved passengers will be given entry through direction wise passenger shelter. Ticket arrangements will be in the form of unreserved ticket counters, ATVMs and mobile ticketing in the passenger shelters.
Similarly, reserved passengers will be given entry through gate number 5 and they will be allowed to go to the platform only half an hour before the arrival of the train.
According to PTI, the police vehicles in Katni district made announcements that traffic has been stopped till Monday.
Maihar Police asked vehicles to return towards Katni and Jabalpur and stay there.
"It is impossible to move towards Prayagraj today as there is a traffic jam of 200-300 kilometres," police reportedly said.
Several videos on social media show massive queues of thousands of cars and trucks on roads across Katni, Maihar and Rewa districts in MP.
Eyewitnesses claimed huge traffic jams across a 250-km stretch from Katni to MP-UP borders at Chakghat in Rewa district. Rewa district collector Pratibha Pal said they are coordinating with the Prayagraj administration.
She said vehicles had been held up because of heavy crowds on the highway.
Several people claimed they were stuck on roads for several hours. A man travelling in this route told PTI, "It is taking almost 10-12 hours to cover a 50-km distance."
In-charge Inspector General of Police (Rewa zone) Saket Prakash Pandey said the Sunday rush led to traffic jams. He said the situation is likely to ease in a couple of days.
Pandey said the MP Police is allowing vehicles to move after coordinating with the Prayagraj administration.
Police are also stopping vehicles at different spots to prevent crowding at MP-UP borders.
Regarding the traffic jam, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X said, "Emergency arrangements should be made immediately for the crores of devotees stranded in Prayagraj Maha Kumbh. The hungry, thirsty, distressed and tired pilgrims in the traffic jam everywhere should be looked at with a humane perspective. Is the common devotee not a human being?"
"There is already a jam in Nawabganj 30 kms before the entry into Prayagraj towards Lucknow, a jam in Gauhania 16 kms before the Rewa road, and a jam of 12 to 15 kms towards Varanasi and news of the crowd entering even the engine of the train is being published everywhere. Normal life has become difficult," he wrote on the social media platform.
Yadav said, "The UP government has failed. It is visible only in false advertisements full of arrogance, but in reality it is missing on the ground."
In another post on 'X' Yadav shared a video apparently from Madhya Pradesh in which police personnel are seen asking people on the road not to travel towards Prayagraj considering a huge traffic on the route.
He wrote, "There is 'BJP government' on both sides. One says come to Maha Kumbh, the other says don't cross over."
BJP is the ruling party in both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.