Tens of lakhs attended the concluding prayer programme that brought down the curtains on the four-day Aalmi Tablighi Ijtema in the state capital on Monday.

City residents thronged the prayer venue since late Sunday evening to secure a place ahead of the annual Dua ceremony.

Elaborate traffic arrangements remained in place to facilitate the easy movement of vehicles to and from the venue at Eintkhedi village on the outskirts of the city.

The head of the Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, led the congregation in prayers for global peace and brotherhood after farewell sermons were delivered by Maulana Yusuf Kandhalvi and Maulana Hasan Baliavi.

The conclusion of the four-day congregation marks the return of participating Jamaats (groups) to their homes. The end of the Ijtema is also the beginning of a final push by volunteers to dismantle and store all fixtures and fittings at the venue.

Participants from 34 nationalities attended the congregation at the Eintkhedi venue, which spanned 600 acres, including a 300-acre Shamiana to house the guests.

Organisers worked hard to keep the event free of single-use plastics and employed ingenious methods for water recycling and composting waste.

As the last of the congregants bade adieu to Bhopal, scores of volunteers from the city are now focusing on safe and ecologically friendly methods to restore the Ijtema ground for the sowing season.

Thousands of volunteers worked alongside traffic police to ensure the free flow of traffic this morning. Residents said that even though the streets remained crowded, there were hardly any traffic snarls in the area.

Meanwhile, major traffic disruptions were witnessed in the vicinity of Hamidia Hospital, where the annual flea market—also referred to as the Ijtema market—got underway at the Taj-ul-Masajid complex on Monday evening.