national

Prayagraj Maha Kumbh: Highway jammed due to heavy crowd, thousands of vehicles stranded

Harshad Dewangan 09 February 2025

Due to the huge crowd of devotees in Maha Kumbh, there has been a huge jam on the roads of Prayagraj. Due to increasing traffic pressure, the administration has implemented no-entry of vehicles on many routes, due to which thousands of passengers are stranded in Satna, Maihar, Katni and Rewa of Madhya Pradesh.

The process of stopping vehicles on NH-30 continues, due to which long queues have been formed in Katni, Maihar and Rewa. Many people are stranded overnight, and it is taking four to five hours to move forward one or two kilometers.

Barricades erected at many places, police on alert.
The police force under the leadership of Amarpatan TI KP Tripathi is stopping vehicles going to Prayagraj near Kharamseda, due to which a three kilometer long jam has occurred on the highway. To keep the traffic smooth, the administration is stopping vehicles and sending them forward.

According to the administration, temporary barricades have been installed in Maihar to control the crowd. To ensure safety of devotees and maintain law and order, vehicles are being controlled near Amdara and Amarpatan.

More than 7,000 vehicles stranded, efforts underway to relieve jam

NH-30 is the main route for pilgrims going to Prayagraj from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam and other states. Thousands of vehicles got stranded in a few hours, and the administration estimates that this number could exceed 10,000 by night.

Katni police is appealing to the devotees to undertake the pilgrimage after a few days. The police put up barricades on NH-30 and announced through the mike that "if you have come for the purpose of sightseeing or want to take a bath in the Ganga, wait for a few days and then go."

10 km long jam at Rewa border

The administration stopped vehicles at the MP-UP border, leading to a jam of around 10 kilometres. On Friday, an estimated 14,000 vehicles left for Prayagraj from Sohagi toll plaza, but due to increased crowd, police started stopping vehicles in the early hours of Saturday.

The administration says that when the crowd in Prayagraj reduces, then vehicles will be sent ahead from MP.