By Avijit Biswas

Bhagalpur: To ensure proper prior assessment of the daily arrival of pilgrims at Sultanganj during the month-long Shrawani Mela, beginning on July 24 this year, the Bhagalpur administration has decided to develop a portal or an app. Through this portal or app, pilgrims will be able to inform the local administration about the date and time of their arrival at Sultanganj.

Considering the usefulness of prior intimation by pilgrims regarding their arrival for effective crowd management and making arrangements for their convenience, the decision was made at an official meeting held last evening on the preparations for Shrawani Mela 2024.

District Magistrate (DM) Dr. Nawal Kishore Choudhury, who chaired the meeting, emphasized the importance of proper prior assessment of the daily arrival of pilgrims for arrangement purposes, including security. He directed the development of a portal and an app to facilitate this.

Dr. Choudhury believes that with proper prior assessment of the daily arrival of pilgrims at Sultanganj during the Shrawani Mela, the local administration would be able to convey the real picture of pilgrim flow to adjoining districts through which the pilgrim route passes, as well as to the Deoghar district administration in Jharkhand, where the Baidyanathdham temple is located.

The information about the arrival of pilgrims at Sultanganj provided by the local administration would be useful for the Deoghar administration in managing the crowd of pilgrims at the Baidyanathdham temple.

It is noteworthy that during the month-long Shrawani Mela, pilgrims undertake a journey on foot to the Baidyanathdham temple with Kanwars, fetching holy water from the river Ganga at Sultanganj to offer to Lord Shiva. Pilgrims cover an approximate distance of 104 kilometers during their trek from Sultanganj to Baidyanathdham temple.

According to the district administration’s assessment, the usual turnout of pilgrims at Sultanganj is between 70,000-80,000 every Saturday and Monday, while it is between 40,000-50,000 on other days during the mela period. Taking into account the usual arrival of pilgrims on different days of the week, preparatory arrangements for the mela were discussed in the meeting.

DM directed the officials of different departments present at the meeting to prepare work plans concerning the mela arrangements and to get approval of these plans from their respective departments well in time. The executive engineer of the national highway, Bhagalpur division, was specifically directed by the DM to ensure that all works being undertaken to improve the condition of the highway stretch between Bhagalpur and Sultanganj are completed by June 30.

Officials present at the meeting included Nitin Kumar Singh, Municipal Commissioner; Kumar Anurag, Deputy Development Commissioner; Ajay Kumar Singh, Additional Collector; Nagendra Kumar Gupta, Joint Director of the Information and Public Relations Department; and Dhananjay Kumar, SDO (Sadar), among others.

The author is a journalist based in Bhagalpur