The largest religious gathering in the World - The Maha Kumbh Mela will be held in Prayag (Allahabad) on the bank of Sangam in the year. The Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad is expected to be the biggest of all other previous melas. Here are few interesting facts and figures regarding the people visiting and the the Mela:
- Around 10 crore people are expected to visit the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in 2013. The Makar Sankranti day alone will witness around 1 crore pilgrims and more than 3 crore pilgrims are expected to take the holy dip on Mauni Amawasya on February 10.
- Amongst the visitors, around 10 lakhs are expected to be foreign tourists.
- The total budget for Maha Kumbh 2013 was Rs 1,200 crore, which is 200 crore more than that of the 2001 Maha Kumbh.
- The Mela would generate employment for over 6 lakh people. Rs 12,000 crore is expected to flow into the coffers of the UP government as revenue and taxes.
- 18 pontoon bridges and 35,000 public toilets have been built for pilgrims.
- 156 km of new roads, made of chequered steel plates have been laid on the river bank.
- 571 km of water pipelines have been laid, 800 km of electric wires and 48 power sub-stations been set up in the Mela area.
- 125 ration shops, 4 godowns opened in Mela area for pilgrims to buy grains, groceries and vegetables.
- 2,500 religious and social organisations from across the world will participate.
- 30,000 policemen, 30 new police stations, and 72 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed to provide security during the Mela.
- 120 CCTV cameras have been installed in Mela area and Allahabad city.
- 22 doctors and 120 ambulances on round-the-clock duty at the new 100- bed central hospital in Kumbh Mela area.
- 50.83 sq km the total area where the Kumbh is held, almost double the size of the last mela in 2001.
- Rs 6,000 crore is the daily rent for the plush Swiss cottages set up by UP Tourism.
- Hollywood celebrities Richard Gere, Michael Douglas and wife Catherine Zeta Jones expected to visit apart from spiritual guru Dalai Lama, former US presidential candidate John Hagelin.
- Digitised Maps of the entire Mela area have been uploaded on the internet for people to select which place they want to visit and have a dip in the holy waters.
- GPS-Enabled Systems to locate their spiritual and religious heads and the camps/ashrams that they have set up in the Mela area. To estimate exact number of crowds the government has sought cooperation from ISRO and Remote Sensing Application Centre. They will capture photographs of the entire Mela area every 24 hours.