Dehradun: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan held a meeting with the concerned officials on Wednesday regarding the preparations for the Kumbh Mela. The Chief Secretary said that in view of the Kumbh Mela to be held in 2027, all types of permanent and temporary nature works should be completed by October 31, 2026. He said that taking the last date of completion of the work seriously, it should be ensured that all the work is completed on time.
The Chief Secretary also directed that nodal officers of all departments be nominated soon. He directed to assess the maximum number of devotees on major bathing festivals and ensure arrangements accordingly. He said that the number of ghats should also be increased in accordance with the crowd of devotees. He directed the Mela Adhikari to make all kinds of arrangements by constantly communicating with all stakeholders. He said that the arrangements for Technical Audit Committee and Third Party Quality Control should be ensured immediately. The Chief Secretary has directed to divide all types of works for the Kumbh Mela into A, B, C categories while determining their priority. He said that immediate action should be started for those works which have to be done in every situation. He said that long-term works should also be taken on priority so that they can be completed on time. He directed that works of temporary nature should be done as per the time limit.
The Chief Secretary said that if there is encroachment on the places allotted to the departments and institutions in the Kumbh Mela area, then the encroachment should be removed and the land should be allotted to the departments. He has also given instructions to remove all types of encroachments in the Kumbh Mela area.
The Chief Secretary has directed the SP Haridwar to provide the traffic and parking plan during the Kumbh Mela to the Mela Adhikari by August 20, 2025. Along with this, instructions were given to all other departments including Health Department, Drinking Water and Electricity Department, which provide services during Kumbh Mela, to make their action plan available by August 20, 2025. He said that all the arrangements should be ensured in advance for the Kumbh Mela related works to be done by Uttarakhand at the time of canal closure by Uttar Pradesh for repair, so that work can be done immediately during the canal closure.
The Chief Secretary emphasized on exploring the possibilities of expanding the Kumbh Mela area. He directed that the senior officials should visit the area and get the work completed on time to get the repair and construction works of all types of roads completed on time. The Chief Secretary also talked about finding a solution to the problem of water logging from Ranipur turn, railway bridge to Jwalapur. He said that in view of the safety of devotees and common people, fire hydrants should also be installed at various places along with other security arrangements in the Kumbh Mela area. On this occasion, Mela Adhikari Mrs. Sonika gave a detailed presentation regarding the Kumbh Mela. On this occasion, DGP Deepam Seth, Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Nitesh Kumar Jha, Brijesh Kumar Sant, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Dhiraj Singh Garbyal, Jugal Kishore Pant and Dr. Ranveer Singh Chauhan along with other senior officers and District Magistrates of Haridwar, Dehradun, Tehri and Pauri were also present through video conferencing.
