The Hindu : National : Lakhs take part in Ganga Sagar Mela

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Monday, Jan 16, 2006

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Lakhs take part in Ganga Sagar Mela

Special Correspondent

Pilgrims take holy dip

PHOTO: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

BRAVING THE CHILL: Pilgrims on their way to take a holy dip in the Ganga at Gangasagar Mela in Sagar island near Kolkata on Saturday.

KOLKATA: Over the past three days more than 4,75,000 pilgrims from different parts of the country and several from Nepal visited the annual Ganga Sagar Mela that ended on Sunday night in the Sagar Islands at the southern-most tip of West Bengal.

Eleven persons have died since the mela got underway on Friday. Most of the deaths were due to natural causes, some of the victims having contracted acute pneumonia aggravated by the cold, Additional District Magistrate [General], South 24 Parganas, Santanu Basu, told The Hindu . Two persons died after falling ill in an overcrowded launch taking pilgrims back to a transit point on the mainland. The mela, spread over nearly 25 sq km, was held amidst elaborate security arrangements following warnings that militants could target the congregation.

The Islands' shores teemed with pilgrims taking the holy dip, braving the pre-dawn winter's chill in the early hours of Saturday on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. They then offered prayers at the Kapilmani Ashram.

Central paramilitary forces were deployed in the vicinity of the mela grounds where nearly 2,500 policemen of the State Armed Police were on duty.

Also on stand-by were a team of Navy divers commissioned from Visakhapatnam, personnel of the Coast Guard and the water wing of the State's Civil Defence. A helicopter requisitioned by the State Government and Coast Guard vessels undertook patrol duty.

Medical camps were set up and some children were administered anti-polio vaccines. Business was brisk in many of the 1400-odd stalls.

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