On December 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh and took stock of the preparations for the Maha Kumbh scheduled from January 13, 2025 to February 26, 2025. PM visited the holy Sangam area and offered prayers at the pious Akshay Vat for the successful conduct of the largest congregation of humankind in the world. Not known to many people in India, a large area of land in the Sangam area belongs to the Indian Army. Fort Prayagraj, which overlooks the Sangam area, houses an important logistic establishment of the Indian Army, and Akshay Vat is located within the Fort complex. In addition, another two important religious places called Saraswati Koop and Patalpuri are also located within the Fort complex.
Fort Prayagraj was built by Emperor Akbar in 1583 to control the Ganga and Yamuna waterways to strengthen the Mughal empire in the region. The fort is located on the banks of the Yamuna River and is very near to the confluence point of Yamuna and Ganga. Therefore, it is called Sangam, a most sacred religious place where a holy dip is considered sacred. A large chunk of the land in the Sangam area belongs to the Indian Army and Defence Estates. Since a mammoth crowd is expected to visit the Sangam area during Maha Kumbh, the land belonging to the defence is handed over to the local civil administration to make temporary living accommodations for the devotees. In addition, a large number of administrative and medical facilities are also in the vicinity.
Prime Minister Modi visited Akshay Vat in the Fort complex on December 16, 2018. He found that the holy Akshay Vat is not directly accessible to the devotees during the Magh Mela and Kumbh Mela. At that point of time, he passed instructions to open Akshay Vat to the devotees in the Kumbh scheduled in January-February 2019. Since the time was short, the Army and the civil administration made make-shift arrangements then. But, the spirit of the Prime Minister’s thought process and the spirit of his instructions was understood, and it took formal shape in the year 2022.
In June 2022, I took over the appointment of General Officer Commanding Madhya Bharat Area, with its headquarters located at Jabalpur. Prayagraj came under my jurisdiction, and I visited Prayagraj and Fort Complex during the second week of June. I was briefed on how the Army assists the civil administration every year from January to February during the Magh Mela in the Sangam area and the Fort complex. I was also informed that the local civil and military authorities are discussing how to improve facilities for the devotees during the Maha Kumbh scheduled in the year 2025. I instructed the local military authority to make a detailed plan so as to facilitate the darshan of Akshay Vat, Saraswati Koop and Patalpuri to the civilian devotees without compromising the security of the army establishment.
That was the beginning of a beautiful civil-military relationship for the larger good of the people. Local civil authorities were briefed about our plans and later briefed at the actual site in the Fort complex. The site of the three holy places and the route interconnecting them had to be planned. Detailed plans and scope of work were discussed. Thereafter, the plans were presented to the UP State administration in Lucknow.
In the latter part of 2022, UP Chief Minister Yogi visited Sangam and Fort Complex. He was briefed at the site and conducted by the local military authority of Prayagraj. He exhibited keen interest in the plans presented and immediately gave In-Principle approval to make the infrastructure and improve the aesthetics of the three holy places located in the Fort complex.
Reposing complete faith in the abilities of the Army, the financial package and outlay were quickly sanctioned by the UP government. Since the construction work was to happen on defence land, sanction was obtained from the Ministry of Defence (MOD). As per official protocol, the project was to be executed by the Military Engineering Service (MES), an organisation under the MOD which has both Army and civilian employees working in synergy. The project commenced in the first quarter of the year 2023 in the right earnest. The challenge was to match the architecture of the Mughal era construction to the extent possible. Being an old structure, the work had to be done carefully so that any delicate structure would not get damaged. So, the initial progress of the project was painstakingly slow.
I visited the project site a number of times in the year 2023. During the execution phase of the project, the scope of work increased when we added some more facilities in the Fort complex. It is to the credit of CM Yogi that he sanctioned additional funds for the project promptly. It is to the credit of the Army and the civil administration that the project was executed in record time, and on December 13, this year, Prime Minister Modi offered prayers at Akshay Vat and Saraswati Koop. He expressed satisfaction at seeing his vision executed with military efficiency.
The construction and renovation of the Fort complex and the religious places located therein is another example of an exemplary civil-military relationship. Maha Kumbh 2025 is likely to witness the highest number and record congregation of devotees this time and they would witness the religious places in all its glory and splendour. This is another humble contribution of the Indian Army towards a people-friendly nation-building exercise.
