The Maha Kumbh Mela, to be organized in Prayagraj from January 13 to February 26, 2025, is going to break all records with an estimated crowd of more than 43 crore. The Uttar Pradesh government, under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari are giving top priority to major road infrastructure projects so as to accommodate such a huge crowd. These works will enable stress-free traveling, greater connectivity, and enhanced security during the holy festival. The two leaders had a high-level review meeting wherein they have outlined the roadmap for the development of critical road infrastructure, which involves national highways, bypasses, and bridges to be completed by December 2024.
Maha Kumbh 2025: Main Infrastructure Projects
Infrastructure Upgrades in Prayagraj and its locality fall under an overarching policy to handle the massive gathering during the Maha Kumbh. Some of the prominent projects that feature during the meeting include:
- Upgradation of National Highways: The upgradation of 63.17 km of the national highway Raebareli-Prayagraj will be completed to avoid congestion and ensure free flow of traffic.
- Bypass Construction: Four-lane bypasses are being constructed at strategic locations to avoid the congested city center to take the pilgrims on a smoother journey.
- Prayagraj Inner Ring Road: A 7.6 km section of the Prayagraj Inner Ring Road has been developed in order to smoothen urban traffic, especially at peak festival times.
- Ganga River Bridge: This calls for construction of a parallel six-laned bridge over Ganga at Phaphamau to house sheer flow of pilgrim traffic.
Improvement in this infrastructure should be done, considering the Maha Kumbh but should also work towards long-term improvement in regional road connectivity.
Timely Completion and Safety Measures
All projects should be completed in terms of time, quality, and safety. Hence, Chief Minister Adityanath and Union Minister Gadkari both of them sought that these projects must be done before December 2024. They will have all the time to get ready for Maha Kumbh. The big safety measures taken for the event are the installation of CCTV cameras and streetlights on highways.
Well-guarded emergency response units like ambulances and recovery vehicles at adequate distances on all national highways
Medical and Traffic-assistance Posts at strategic places to be amplified for quick responding capability in emergency time. All such measures will assure the safe transportation of millions who are expected to attend the grand event.
Development Plans for Highways in UP
Development of roads isn’t just confined to Maha Kumbh preparations. Gadkari outlined a far more broad-based roadmap of infrastructure development of the State projects worth Rs 1.39 lakh crores. The new projects here will not only strengthen existing routes but also open new corridors, thus improving connectivity in the State and neighboring regions.
Ongoing projects include:
- NH-530B of Bareilly: Upgradation and strengthening this highway to improve connectivity of other areas of the state.
- Pratapgarh Bypass: Bypass construction to decongest the traffic in Pratapgarh city
- Prayagraj-Dohri Ghat Road: Four-laning for connectivity of city Prayagraj with other nearby cities.
Projects like Shamli-Gorakhpur and Aligarh-Moradabad-Bijnor corridors are in advanced stages with bids already secured.
The need for good infrastructure for Maha Kumbh
Maha Kumbh is the icon of India’s rich religious, cultural, and social heritage. For this mega event when millions will attend, safe and robust infrastructure will be in requirement for their convenience and comfort.
The Chief Minister insisted that there should be coordination between state and centre towards effective management of the mega event.
Chief Minister’s vision:
- Communication system to be highly effective and CCTV to cover highways.
- There is improvement in facilities like better toilets at the toll plazas and added lighting at key points.
- Road infrastructure with easy flow of traffic to avoid jamming and accidents.
Land acquisition and future plans for expansion
Along with these current infrastructural developments, Adityanath further called for the acceleration of land and project clearances. This will ensure that bypasses and roads in Auraiya and Bulandshahr districts along with Bahraich get completed on time. The authorities have also been asked to control road accidents through the deployment of road safety measures and the imposition of discipline on the roads.
Development of New Corridor
- Gorakhpur-Shamli Corridor: A crucial new road development to be utilized for better connectivity in that area.
- Kanpur-Ghaziabad Route: An enormous project that would be constructed to make connectivity between key cities of Uttar Pradesh even better.
Bypass construction will be taken up in 10 districts – Baghpat, Bhadohi, and Sambhal among others. It would decongest traffic and handle traffic much better.
Emergency Response and Health Infrastructure
To avoid such circumstances in the near future, this has been a taken initiative as to be given serious thought to and discussed over between both of them; both Adityanath and Gadkari should integrate medical as well as response systems for highway emergencies.
Other key decisions made along with it:
Ambulances and recovery vehicle at an interval of 20 km
Smooth coordination between neighboring hospitals in developing an incident management system.
Emergency response procedures to react speedily in the event of an accident or any other kind of emergency.
Conclusion:
With Uttar Pradesh now ready to host Maha Kumbh 2025, road infrastructure developments will now be further carried forward by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, promising to be a game-changer to make the experience safe and smooth for millions of pilgrims. These projects will enrich the Maha Kumbh experience and the overall road networks in the region with a focus on being completed on time, quality, safety, and long-term connectivity. The state and central government cooperation very correctly depicts strong commitment not only toward short-term event management but toward large turn-of long-term infrastructure development in Uttar Pradesh.
Source:
Economic Times, Link to article