An aerial view of buses and other vehicles piled up in a jam at Andawa to Saison road owing to huge rush of devotees at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Hundreds of people stuck in Prayagraj while attempting to leave the Maha Kumbh, in a massive traffic jam spanning many kilometres, sought urgent help on Thursday (January 30, 2025), especially for children and elderly people unable to get out of the snarl for over 30 hours.

The district administration of Prayagraj claimed that the traffic was still moving despite vehicles being chock-a-block along the road. Eyewitnesses told The Hindu that they are stuck at Kotari village on their way out from the Maha Kumbh through the Savai temple parking in Ibrahimpuri, trying to reach Kanpur or the nearest highway.

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“We can only see stuck buses as far as we can see. It has been so many hours. We haven’t yet been able to reach the highway. Patience is wearing thin now. Please help us get out of this traffic jam. Hundreds of buses are just stuck here. Thousands of us are stranded,” said Mayank Marda, 46, a Mumbai-based businessman.

‘Allow exit first’

“We left Prayagraj yesterday [January 29] at 4 p.m. We have been able to reach only till here. We are trying to reach the Kanpur Highway to reach Delhi. The villagers say we are at Kotari village in Prayagraj district,” he said. “Our simple request is that all the buses and cars wanting to exit should be allowed first, so then people can enter in after that.”

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Mr. Marda and his family members are part of a convoy of pilgrims which reached Prayagraj on January 28, for a holy dip at the sangam on the auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya. “We did our snan (holy dip) on 29th morning. We left from there at around 12:30 p.m. But the parking lot was a few kilometres away and we had to walk to reach it. To cover those four-five kilometres, we walked till 4 p.m. on January 29. Our buses then left the parking lot. Our group has people from different cities. Some of them are NRIs too. Yesterday, after we left the parking lot, we could barely travel two kilometres. We have been stuck in traffic since then. We haven’t moved an inch,” he said.

Another person travelling in the same group identified himself as Abhishek, but refused to give many details. “We are losing our heads now. You can do your story any other time. It is important for us to leave from here. We are in distress,” he said in agitation.

‘Highways inaccessible’

“Some people who went ahead on motorcycles came back and told us that the traffic jam spans several kilometres. We have tried to reach the local police, we have tweeted about it. We haven’t found a single official person till now. Every time we were told that it will get cleared up in two to three hours. But the villagers are very helpful. They have given us food,” Mr. Marda said. Some people also posted videos of the traffic jam on their Instagram handles.

Gurugram-based Anupama Tikoo told The Hindu that everyone around her had started losing their temper. “Google has gone. There is no internet here. It shows a green screen. I am travelling with my husband. We are a group of over 150 people, who have come from different parts of the country. We had left home on January 27th night, to reach Prayagraj on the 28th. Yesterday, we walked over 12 kilometres to reach the parking lot. We are being told that people have slept on the streets. There is no food problem as the villagers have been kind. But we have old people with us. There is concern. I have been told that thousands of buses are stuck. As far as we can see, we only see buses. We are not on the main road. We are on a village road, waiting to hit the highway,” the homemaker said.

Slow movement, say police

DIG Prayagraj, Ajay Pal told The Hindu that traffic is chock-a-block across all the highways and even in the interior roads, but insisted that it is moving.

“We attended several complaints of people getting stuck at places for hours, but when the help reached them, it turned out that they were only held up for a couple of hours, which is due to heavy vehicular influx in the city due to Kumbh,” he said, urging the media to share the information of anyone who needs help, promising that the police will provide aid.