PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Haridwar
The chairman and chief executive officer of Railway Board Satish Kumar arrived in Haridwar on Friday and held a review meeting with the Mela administration, railway and police officials regarding preparations for the upcoming Ardh Kumbh Mela 2027. The meeting discussed in detail the convenience of pilgrims, security, crowd management and railway operations during the religious mela slated from January 14 to April 20, 2027.
Kumar stated that the role of Indian Railways is crucial in a massive congregation like the Kumbh Mela. He directed officials to ensure timely preparation for the operation of special trains, additional coaches, platform management, holding areas, smooth evacuation arrangements and a modern CCTV-based surveillance system.
After the meeting, he also inspected the Command and Control Centre located in the fair control building, referred to as CCR and stressed on further strengthening the technology-based monitoring system.
The Mela officer Sonika said that based on the experiences of the previous Kumbh and major bathing festivals, it is estimated that 1.25 to 2 crore devotees will arrive at the main bathing festivals of the upcoming Ardh Kumbh. “In view of this, extensive preparations are being made for infrastructure, parking, transportation, security, disaster management and crowd control,” she added.
Among the senior officers present included the DRM Vinita Srivastava, senior divisional security commissioner Rishi Kumar, SSP (Kumbh) Ayush Agarwal and additional Mela officer Dayanand Saraswati.
