Sangam, Allahabad:
Amidst the cacophony of millions of people gathered here on Sunday morning, it was hard to ignore the voice of a young policeman on the public address system at Maha Kumbh Nagar. To devotees in distress, 28-year-old Sunil Kumar Yadav is the most sought after policeman at Sangam.
Standing on a wooden platform at Sangam, 28-year-old Sunil Kumar Yadav was announcing names and descriptions of the thousands who were reported missing as millions bathed in Maha Kumbh Nagar. Yadav announced names non-stop for several hours since the first cases of missing people were reported at 4am. If one had to get a sense of the geographic origin of the millions who arrived at Sangam, Yadav’s announcements provided that information as he shouted name, description, age and hometown of the missing.
“We have lost count after 12,000 who were reported missing since 4am this morning,” civil defence volunteer Ashish Mishra told Gulf News. “But we believe that around 15,000 people may have been reported missing,” said Mishra who is a lawyer and assists Yadav at Sangam’s Lost and Found Centre, one of the four in the tent city of Maha Kumbh Nagar. “While many missing women, children and elderly are eventually united with their families, several others who can’t locate their loved ones have to seek police help,” added Mishra who is a lawyer by profession.
By 8.30am, the centre’s wooden platform was surrounded by hundreds of desperate men and women who were trying to hand over slips of paper with the names and descriptions of their relatives. Mishra was calmly taking details from those who can’t read and write and handed over slips to Yadav. “Look at this, how will we find all these people?” Mishra said as he showed a bagful of paper slips. “We have a long day ahead today,” he added.
Rizwan Alam, 28, is the team leader of Mishra and 50 other civil defence volunteers who worked from 4am to midnight on Sunday when millions descended for the Mauni Amavasya bathing day here. “Most pilgrims are poor and illiterate who lose their sense of direction because of water on one side and millions of people on the other side,” Mishra explained. Anyone who is separated from their families is directed by policemen to report at the centre.
“It’s not so hard to imagine so many people getting lost as almost one-and-a-half per cent of India’s population is gathered at this very spot today,” said a police officer.
