Varanasi/Ayodhya: Over 15 crore devotees have taken a holy dip in Prayagraj last 17 days and the fair administration expects more than 10 crore will attend the main bathing festival on Mauni Amavasya. The surging crowd of devotees has thrown the arrangements out of gear in Varanasi and Ayodhya where the devotees are heading directly from Prayagraj.
Till Monday, 25 lakh visitors thronged Ayodhya and about 15 lakh are expected to visit on Tuesday. The scenario is the same in Varanasi with an average of 20 lakh daily footfalls. The excess crowd on Mauni Amavasya is also expected to visit these two religious places after bathing at Prayagraj.
Given the crowd, the Varanasi Traffic Police have made arrangements for route diversion by banning outside vehicles in the city and making designated parking lots outside the city. To ensure tourist convenience, a special Google Map page has been created with a QR code to direct parking places.
The crowd situation is such that devotees have to wait for seven to eight hours for a darshan of Lord Vishwanath Dham.
"New traffic rules have been made till February 5 for convenience on Mauni Amavasya and Basant Panchami. Under this, entry of outside vehicles has been banned along with route diversion in different parts of the city. A total of 15 parking lots have been set up at all points outside the city from where devotees have to take e-buses to reach the Vishwanath Temple complex. Ghats and Vishwanath temple complex have been made a no-vehicle zone and all schools in Varanasi have been closed till February 5," Rajesh Pandey, ADCP traffic, said.
The district administration has closed the Gorakhpur-Ayodhya-Lucknow highway at night to control the rush of devotees. Only essential vehicles are allowed.
"The continuous flow of lakhs of devotees has affected the vehicular movement on the national highway and arrangements have been made to control the crowd by banning entry of outside vehicles and catering segregated parking lots for them," IG Praveen Kumar said.
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