DehraDun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank today said the Mahakumbh mela deserves a
Nobel prize for being the world`s largest religious gathering.
"We are getting phone calls from various countries that
the Mahakumbh mela held in Uttarakhand deserves to get a Nobel
prize as it is the biggest religious gathering in the world,"
Nishank told reporters here.
Maintaining that he strongly supported the viewpoint, the
Chief Minister of the BJP-ruled state said he would not mind
if the President of India receives the prize.
Nishank`s comments came a day after 7 people, mostly
women, were killed and 17 injured in a car accident and
consequent stampede at the Mela venue during a procession on
the day of last royal bath.
Over 5 crore people from all over the world speaking
nearly 68 languages converged at Haridwar this year to
participate in the Mahakumbh, he said and thanked them for
making the gathering such a huge success despite threats from
certain terror groups.
This time the government spent nearly Rs 440 crore in
which nearly 80 per cent of the work was of permanent nature,
he said.
"We constructed such big ghats where nearly 50 lakh
people can take bath at a time," he said.
A total of 519 people were saved from drowning by the
water police jawans, Nishank said, adding 8318 people were
reunited with their family during the Mahakumbh that began on
Jan14.
-PTI
