Thousands of devotees thronged various Ganga ghats on Monday to take a holy dip in the river Ganga on the auspicious occasion of Kartik Purnima. Heavy rush of devotees was also seen at the temples including Kashi Vishwanath temple. In view of the rush of people, elaborate security arrangements were made at various ghats and several traffic restrictions were imposed especially in the central city area of Dashashwamedh, southern part of Assi and Bhaisasur in the northern part near Rajghat.
Water Police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were seen active along with expert divers. Senior police officers in view of the rush of devotees were camping there.
Heavy rush of devotees was seen particularly at Dashashwamedh, Rajendra Prasad, Ahilyabai, Man Mandir, Assi, Sheetla, Scindia, Panchganga, Nagwa, Bhainsasur, Rajghat, Narad, Kedar, Hanuman, Ravidas and Tulsi Ghat. Meanwhile, the activists of Namami Gange launched a massive cleanliness drive to collect the garbage from the river. During the bathing period, the activists led by regional convenor (Kashi Unit) Rajesh Shukla appealed to the people not to throw plastic bottles, polythene bags, flowers etc into the river and put the same into the dustbins. He said that the festivals of Kartik Purnima and Dev Deepawali give us a message of saving the rivers.