Maha Kumbh Mela 2021: Devotees to participate in third ‘Shahi Snan’ in Haridwar on April 14

(Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: The third royal bath of the Maha Kumbh is on Wednesday (April 14). On the occasion several devotees will take a holy bath in the Ganga river at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar.

The holy dip of Maha Kumbh comes when the country is fighting the second wave of COVID-19. Amid the COVID-19 guideline in place, the general public has been allowed at the Bramha Kund only till 7 am, post which, the area will be reserved for akharas. Devotees, however, have been allowed to take the holy dip on other ghats.

Earlier, officials revealed that by Monday evening on the occasion of the second holy dip more than 3.1 million devotees had bathed in the river, with many more expected to follow suit. 

The Maha Kumbh Mela authorities in Haridwar are struggling to ensure COVID-19 related guidelines as over 20 lakh pilgrims arrived at different ghats in the district on the occasion of ‘Somvati Amavasya’ on Monday.

Most of the individuals were neither wearing masks nor adhering to social distancing protocols in the Maha Kumbh in Haridwar.

"We are continuously appealing to people to follow COVID-19 (/topic/covid-19) appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd, it is practically not possible to issue challans today. It is very difficult to ensure social distancing at ghats,"  Kumbh Inspector General (IG) Sanjay Gunjyal said. 

"A stampede-like situation may arise if we would try to enforce social distancing at ghats so we are unable to enforce social distancing here," he said on Monday.

Meanwhile, India registered more than 1.60 lakh COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day, according to the official figures released on Tuesday (April 13, 2021) morning. India recorded 1,61,736 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, besides 97,168 recoveries and 879 deaths.