Lakhs reach Gangasagar for holy dip on 'Makar Sankranti'
Kolkata (PTI): Lakhs of pilgrims across the country have started arriving at the Sagar Island in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district to take a holy dip at Gangasagar on the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti', an official said on Saturday.
Even though the auspicious hours for the holy dip will begin around 6.50 pm on Saturday, thousands of devotees took a dip at the confluence of the Hooghly River and the Bay of Bengal in the morning, braving the cold weather condition and offered prayers at the Kapil Muni Ashram, he said.
Over 31 lakh pilgrims have arrived at the Gangasagar Mela, considered the biggest religious congregation after the Kumbh Mela, till Friday evening since January 5.
"After I took a dip in the Ganga (Hooghly River), all my sins have been washed away," said Ram Swaran, a resident of Jharkhand's Chaibasa, standing in waist-deep water, as he flashed the V' sign.
Some devotees were seen singing and dancing for being able to make it to the Gangasagar Mela at the Sagar Island, around 100 km from Kolkata.
"There is a saying ‘shob teertha baar baar, Gangasagar ekbar' (you can visit other pilgrimages several times, but the Gangasagar only once). The visit to Gangasagar suffices for the hardships that pilgrims face while coming here. I feel energized after the dip," said Latika Chatterjee who came from West Bengal's Howrah district.
Meanwhile, personnel of the Coast Guard (ICG) and disaster management teams have stepped up vigil along the coastline, while the police and civil defence volunteers were deployed at the fair ground, he said.
Over 1,000 CCTV cameras and 25 drones are deployed to monitor the entire fairground.
Lakhs of pilgrims across the country gather at the Sagar Island for the annual event and the challenge for the South 24 Parganas district administration is to manage the people while crossing the Muriganga River to reach the Gangasagar safely and vice versa, the official said.
"Vessel and bus services to the Sagar Island was halted for around three-four hours in the morning due to dense fog, and now everything is normal," the district official said.
The state government has taken all measures, including setting up of shelters at the island, for those coming to the Gangasagar Mela, and the administration is expecting a huge footfall.
Sundarbans Development Minister Bankim Hazra was at the fairground to supervise arrangements along with the state officials.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
BJP's Pravesh Wahi elected MCD mayor
New Delhi (PTI): BJP councillor from Rohini East, Pravesh Wahi, was elected mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday.
Wahi secured 156 votes, with 14 councillors of the Indraprastha Vikas Party backing him. Congress candidate Hazi Zaraf received nine votes.
BJP councillor from Anand Vihar, Monika Pant, was elected deputy mayor with 156 votes.
Jai Bhagwan Yadav from Begumpur and Manish Chadha from Paharganj were elected to the standing committee from the BJP, while AAP councillor Jalaj Chaudhary from Shalimar Bagh was also elected to the MCD panel.
On being elected mayor, Wahi thanked Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the BJP leadership, saying, "We will clean Delhi in the coming months. We will work for the development of Delhi."
The electoral college for this year's mayoral election comprised 273 votes, including 249 councillors, 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi Assembly, seven Lok Sabha MPs and three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi. A candidate required 137 votes to win.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) abstained from the mayoral polls. Earlier, the party's Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement that the move would allow the BJP to take charge of the civic body and help AAP "expose" the ruling party on governance.
"Despite having power at all levels, the BJP has failed to bring about any change in Delhi. The BJP does not know how to perform. Only AAP knows how to work," Bharadwaj said.
Earlier, AAP controlled the mayoral post, with Mahesh Kumar Khinchi winning the election in November 2024 by just three votes.
The three civic bodies -- East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) -- were reunified into a single entity on May 22, 2022, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
