A PIL has been filed before the Allahabad High Court, requesting it to direct the state government to restrict the number of devotees who will take a holy dip in the river Ganga during Magh Mela at Prayagraj. The Magh Mela began on Friday with lakhs of devotees taking the holy dip at Sangam, the confluence point of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

In the PIL, moved by one Utkarsh Mishra and others, it has been stated that the religious congregations in the past two years were found responsible for spreading the Covid virus all across the country. In this backdrop of the situation, the PIL has sought a direction from the court to limit the participation in Magh Mela, which is also one of the bigger religious congregations in the world.