PRAYAGRAJ, Jan. 14 -- Sangam city is set to witness a massive turnout of devotees during the Makar Sankranti bathing festival at the Magh Mela-2026, considered the second most significant bathing occasion after Mauni Amavasya. This year, Makar Sankranti is being observed over two days, raising expectations of a much larger gathering. According to astrologer Brijendra Mishra, the Sun will transit from Sagittarius to Capricorn on January 14 at 3:20 pm, marking the beginning of Makar Sankranti. The special auspicious period will commence from that time and continue until 7:20 am on January 15. However, since the auspicious period extends until sunset on January 15, devotees will also gain spiritual merit by taking a holy dip on that day. Astrologer Ashutosh Varshney stated that as per calculations in the Mahavir Panchang, January 15 also holds a valid Makar Sankranti yog, ensuring the attainment of religious merit. Magh Mela officer Rishi Raj confirmed that the Makar Sankranti bathing festival will be observed on both January 14 and 15. Due to this, the mela administration estimates that more than 1 crore devotees may take the holy dip during the two-day event-making it the largest projected turnout for this festival to date. For comparison, during Magh Mela-2024, approximately 28.95 lakh devotees took part in the Makar Sankranti bathing. Anticipating nearly three times that number this year, the Mela administration has prepared an extensive crowd management plan. As part of this, 42 temporary parking zones have been developed with the capacity to accommodate over one lakh vehicles. Additionally, for Magh Mela 2025-26, bathing ghats stretching over 12,100 feet have been constructed, equipped with essential amenities such as change rooms, ramps, toilets, and lighting. To ensure adequate water levels in the Ganga, 8,000 cusecs of water are being released daily from the Kanpur Ganga Barrage. All 81 drains that discharge into the rivers in Prayagraj have been tapped, and continuous water quality monitoring is underway. On government directives, special emphasis has been laid on cleanliness, safety, and smooth transportation. The Magh Mela has been declared open defecation free (ODF), odour-free, and committed to zero-discharge into the Ganga. For this purpose, around 25,880 toilets, 11,000 dustbins, over 10 lakh liner bags, 25 suction vehicles, and 3,300 sanitation workers have been deployed. To facilitate easy movement of pilgrims, bike taxis and golf carts have also been arranged, officials shared. From a security standpoint, Magh Mela superintendent of police Neeraj Pandey said that 17 police stations, 42 police outposts, 20 fire stations, 7 fire outposts, 20 fire watch towers, one water police station, one water police control room, and four sub-control established in mela area would remain on alert. More than 8 km of deep-water barricading and 2 km of river-line barricading for one-way movement have been put in place. Paramilitary forces have also been deployed. For advanced surveillance and crowd control, over 400 CCTV cameras, including AI-enabled cameras, have been installed across the city and mela area. These systems will assist in crowd monitoring, density analysis, incident reporting, and cleanliness and security surveillance....