Preparations for the two-week Rajim Kumbh, the mammoth annual mela at Rajim, the holy convergence of the rivers Mahanadi, Pairi and Sondhoor on the occasion of Magh Poornima, are going on at war footing. The Religious Trust and Endowment department of the State Government has constituted a 171-member central committee headed by Chief Minister Raman Singh for the systematic and proper organisation of the Rajim Kumbh, informed in an official statement issued here on Friday.
Under the Chhattisgarh Rajim Kumbh Mela Act 2006, the department has issued notification of formation of the committee. The department has also formed an 11-member local committee of Government officials and notification has been issued under the Act for it. This year the Magh Poornima falls on February 14 and on that day, the Rajim Kumbh will begin and conclude on Mahashivratri on February 27. The department, after deciding the period of the mela, has issued a separate notification. According to the notification, for the primary preparations and later for other necessary works related to the mela, the period of the mela has been fixed from January 10 to March 10, 2014. In two other notifications issued under the Rajim Kumbh Mela Act 2006, the department has appointed collector Gariaband as mela officer chief medical and health officer Raipur medical officer.
The departmental officials here on Friday said that the Minister for religious trust and endowment department Brijmohan Agrawal has been nominated as the working president of the central committee formed under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, while Tourism Minister Ajay Chandrakar as the vice-president. The committee would have 84 special members and 84 nominated members. Secretary Endowment department would be the special member secretary of the committee.
The special members of the central committee included MP from Raipur Ramesh Bais, Mahasamund MP Chandulal Sahu, MlA Abhanpur Dhanendra Sahu, MlA Rajim Santosh Upadhyay, MlA Chandrapur Yudhaveer Singh Judeo, MlA Vrindavangarh Govardhan Singh Manjhi, secretary to chief minister, Raipur district panchayat president laxmi Verma, Agni Peedhadhishwar Acharya Ramkrishnanand, Amarkantak Sant Dr Pranav Pandya, Sant Ramesh Bhai Ojha, Acharya Sanvidanand Saraswati, Dwarkesh Maharaj and others. There are 23 nominated members included in the committee. Director culture and archaeology will be president of the 11-member local committee with officers of tourism, culture and archaeology departments and Rajbhasha Ayog as members, OSD culture and archaeology department will be the member secretary of the local committee.