Sagar Island (WB), Jan 15: An estimated 12 lakh pilgrims have congregated at Sagar Island in West Bengal for the holy Makar Sankranti dip on Thursday while four persons have died there due to heart attack.
West Bengal Minister for Power Manish Gupta, who is in-charge of Sagar Mela, told reporters that a large number of the pilgrims have returned after their dip while many were still on their way to the island, where communication facilities have been improved.
He said an estimated 12 lakh pilgrims have congregated at the island where four pilgrims have died since yesterday due to heart attack.
Sabita Dubey (60) from Raipur died at Ganga Sagar yesterday. Gita Bai (64) from Indore died at Lot 8, Chaya Bai Khandokar (55) from Nagpur died at Kochuberia and Manik Sarkar (53) from Alipore in Kolkata died at Ganga Sagar today, he said.
Gupta said the police have arrested 65 people from the mela and seized Rs 28,000, eight mobile phones and three wrist watches from them.
A total 2090 were reported lost in the mela, 1001 of them from outside the state. However, only 452 of them are yet to return to their families, he added.
In Haridwar, lakhs of devotees thronged the Ganga banks here, including Har Ki Pauri, to take a dip in the sacred river on the occasion of Makar Sankranti which also marks the first major bath of the ongoing Ardhakumbh mela in Uttarakhand.
Devotees began descending on the Ganga ghats at dawn for the ritual bath, with the auspicious hours for the bath to continue till Thursday, mela officials said.
Lakhs of devotees took bath in the river singing paeans to mother Ganga. People are still pouring in for a dip in the river on the auspicious occasion, they said.
After ‘Arghya’ (offerings) to the Sun God, the devotees visited the devalayas to pay obeisance.
Community feasts serving ‘Khichdi’ were held at different akharas and ashrams to mark the occasion. More than 5,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in the mela area to enable devotees to have a smooth Ardhakumbh experience with mela DIG G S Martolia and mela official S A Murugesan keeping an eye on security arrangements at Har Ki Pauri since morning.
Additional DGP Anil Raturi also visited Har Ki Pauri to review security arrangements. Martolia said there has been no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the mela area.
