india

Updated: Feb 13, 2019 09:01 IST

Kumbh Mela 2019, billed as the world’s largest religious gathering, is vying for a place in the Guinness World Records for the biggest sanitation and waste disposal mechanism, the largest traffic and crowd management plan, and the biggest painting exercise of public sites for any fair, according to officials.

The Guinness World Records, which was known as the Guinness Book of Records since its inception in 1955 until 2000, is a reference book published annually, listing world records of human achievements and the extremes of natural world.

According to the officials, Prayagraj Mela Authority is planning to invite officials of Guinness World Records to the “Sangam City”

As four of the six main bathing festivals [shahi snan] of the fair have been conducted successfully with around 15 crore pilgrims taking a holy dip, officials are confident that the Kumbha Mela 2019 will make it to the Guinness World Records.

“We will invite the officials of Guinness World Records to Kumbh Mela area on three days — February 17, February 24 and March 2 — so that they may have a firsthand experience of the fair and witness the preparations that were made to ensure its safe and smooth conduct,” said Ashish Goel, Prayagraj divisional commissioner and chairman of Prayagraj Mela Authority.

“Sanitation arrangements, traffic and crowd management plan, and the ‘Paint My City’ initiative are the prime areas which we are being projected for Guinness World Records,” he added.

Read more| Over 3 crore take holy dip during last ‘shahi snan’ on Basant Panchmi at Kumbh