Kumbh Mela: Seers keep last Shahi Snan symbolic affair
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Last Updated: Apr 27, 2021, 02:23 PM IST
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 17 had appealed to sadhus to observe the remaining duration of the Kumbh only in a symbolic manner. Following this different akhadas (sects) had agreed to keep their participation symbolic.
PTI
The last shahi snan at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar on Tuesday was a subdued affair with seers keeping the ritual symbolic in view of a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases. Till 10:45 am, around 670 seers took the royal bath and some more are expected to take it in the day at Har ki Pairi on the banks of the Ganga, officials said.
Published Tuesday, April 27, 2021 7:21AM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, April 27, 2021 7:26AM EDT NEW DELHI, April 27 (Reuters) Vital medical supplies poured into India on Tuesday as hospitals starved of life-saving oxygen and beds turned away coronavirus patients, while a surge in infections pushed the death toll towards 200,000. A shipment from Britain, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived in Delhi, said Reuters partner ANI, while France is sending oxygen generators able to provide 250 patients with a year s worth of the gas, its embassy said. The first Oxygen Express train pulled into the capital, New Delhi, laden with about 70 tonnes of oxygen from an eastern state, but the crisis has not abated in the city of 20 million at the epicenter of the latest wave of infections.
The last shahi snan at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar on Tuesday was a subdued affair with seers keeping the ritual symbolic in view of a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases. Till 10:45 am, around 670 seers took the royal bath and some more are expected to take it in the day at Har ki Pairi on the banks of the Ganga, officials said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 17 had appealed to sadhus to observe the remaining duration of the Kumbh only in a symbolic manner. Following this different akhadas (sects) had agreed to keep their participation symbolic. Crowds at the ghats of the Ganga started thinning down drastically since last week after the key akhadas of seers began pulling out of the Maha Kumbh, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, citing the spike in coronavirus case numbers.
Medical supplies flow into India as COVID-19 deaths near 200,000
By Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Rupam Jain and Sanjeev Miglani
Reuters
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Vital medical supplies poured into India on Tuesday as hospitals starved of oxygen supplies and beds turned away coronavirus patients, while a surge in infections pushed the death toll towards 200,000.
Supplies from Britain, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived in Delhi, said Reuters partner ANI, while France is sending oxygen generators able to provide 250 patients with a year s supply of the gas, its embassy said.
Even China, locked in a year-long military standoff with India on their disputed Himalayan border, said it was trying to get medical supplies to its neighbour.
File photo of Har Ki Pauri Ghat during Kumbh Mela 2021
| Photo Credit:
PTI
Till the conclusion of the royal bath, nearly 2,000 seers of 13 akhadas (sects) had taken a dip in the Ganga at Har Ki Pairi ghat which was reserved exclusively for them The last shahi snan at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar on Tuesday was a subdued affair with seers keeping the ritual symbolic in view of a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases. Till the conclusion of the royal bath, nearly 2,000 seers of 13 akhadas (sects) had taken a dip in the Ganga at Har Ki Pairi ghat which was reserved exclusively for them, officials said.