Cops scan Ram Rath videos for Kumbh security

NASHIK: The city police have recorded videos of the processions of the Ram Rath and the Garud Rath held on Friday to gauge the flow of devotees in the old Nashik area during the religious programme. Cops said it will help them analyse the crowd density on the narrow lanes and track the movement of the pilgrims reaching the city through various routes ahead of the Kumbh mela next year.
Being a holy city, where Lord Ram resided during his exile, Nashik witnesses the Ram Navmi celebrations on an enthusiastic note. Apart from the Ram Navmi celebrations, the city also has a tradition of carrying out the processions of the Ram Rath and Garud Rath on the day of Ekadashi (two to three days after the Ram Navmi).
Devotees from across the district come to the city to witness these processions that pass through the small lanes and by-lanes of the old Nashik area. The city police said that analyzing the number of devotees and their movement through the city will help them plan crowd management during the Simhastha Kumbha.
Assistant commissioner of police Pankaj Dahane, who is in charge of the Simhastha Cell, said, “This is part of a range of things we are have been organising to prevent any untoward incidents during the upcoming Kumbh Mela. We have also done the video recording of the river banks during the monsoon and when the river is in spate, which will further help us in planning things in case such a situation arises during Kumbh.”
He added that a similar exercise would be done this monsoon too. Twenty-nine pilgrims had died in a stampede at Sardar Chowk (on the narrow lane leading from Kalaram mandir to Godavari) during the last Kumbh in Nashik in 2003. There are different theories stating the reasons behind the accident, including the narrow lanes of the old Nashik area on either side of the river and also that pilgrims were made to wait for hours behind barricades until the sadhus had bathed.