By noon, between eight and 10 lakh people took a bath in the river, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who was supervising the arrangements at Haridwar, said.
Throwing caution to the wind amid rising cases of coronavirus, thousands of seers congregated on Wednesday at Har ki Pairi in Haridwar to take a dip in the Ganga during the third shahi snan of the Kumbh Mela.
The ‘royal bath’ marked Mesh Sankranti and Baisakhi, and fell two days after a similar convergence of ‘sadhus’ and other devotees for the second shahi snan – events where following social-distancing norms appears almost impossible.
By noon, between eight and 10 lakh people took a bath in the river, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who was supervising the arrangements at Haridwar, said.
Sadhus from four of the 13 akhadas were through with the ‘snan’ by this time. The officer said the event was going on without any hindrance.
He said the crowds at the Ganga ghats were much smaller than expected at the third shahi…