Identification of Environmental Health Risks Associated with Kumbh Mela

Discuss about the Environmental Health Risks In India.

India is one of the most populated countries in the world and is well known for its religious as well as social massive get-to gathers. Some of the most popular religious get together of the country includes Suraj kund Mela at the outskirts of Delhi, Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai and Durga Puja in West Bengal. A mention worthy fact is that, all these festivals occurs in small and overly congested land zones due to the high population of the country. Another mention worthy celebration that is celebrated by the Hindus four times over the course of 12 years, is the kumbha mela. The mentioned fesitival takes place at on the banks of holy rivers the Ganges (Haridwar), the Shipra (Ujjain), the Godavari (Nashik) and the Prayag/the Sangam of divine rivers the Ganges, the Jamuna and the mythical river Saraswati which is situated at Modern Alahhabad on different astrologically significant dates. Pilgrims from various parts of India as well as the world arrives in the Kumbh Mela in ord to wash off their sins in the Holy water of the Ganges (Sridhar, Gautret & Brouqui, 2015). A huge gathering of people takes place every 12 years, and according to the survey conducted on 2013, approximately 120 million people had gathered at the Kumbh mela which is considered to be the largest mass gathering recorded till date (Buzinde et al., 2014).

During the Kumb mela, due to huge gathering of people in a congested region, several unwanted incidents that includes loss of lives, damage of property and mental agony as a result of these issues takes place. The government of India is still struggling to find fool proof solution to prevent such incidents in mass gathering events. The thesis statement of the report is identification of environmental health issues in the Kumbh mela and steps that has been taken by the government to prevent the mentioned issue. In order to evaluate the this statement, in this report, identification, analysis as well as evolution of environmental health risks along with environmental health principles associated with Kumbh Mela will be performed. Along with that, analysis of the management strategy and interdisciplinary approaches taken by the stakeholders during the festival will be analysed in this report (Singh & Bisht, 2014).

Critical health challenges are severely imposed on the populations during the vents of mass gatherings. The event of Maha Kumbh mela is a prolonged event taking place for more than a period of three months. This has been declared as the on the biggest mass gathering in the world (Cariappa et al., 2015). Such gigantic mass gatherings have been reported to impose great deal of problems in terms of health care which include stampedes, severe physical injuries, in some cases burns due to fire, spread of communicable diseases through exposure to unclean water, ill-sanitation and hygienic conditions. Other implications rising out of this mass gathering include pandemics and disasters, for which proper handling measures needs to be prepared (David & Roy 2016).

Management Strategies and Interdisciplinary Approaches

The major health challenges which the masses gathered at the event are due to the exposure to the unhygienic environmental factors. The gathering mostly takes place at the banks of the river Ganges in Allahabad, which results in overcrowding of the river banks. Most of the pilgrims gathered here follow rituals which include taking bath in the river. In the year 1954, an incident of stampede was reported in the Kumbh mela grounds were nearly 500 individuals died as a result of severe physical injuries after stampede. Another such incident was reported in the 2013, where again such incident occurred in the Allahabad railway station due to overcrowding of the pilgrims (Baranwal et al., 2015). The event of bathing in the river also leads to consequences of water-borne infections.According to Jani et al., (2018) has been reported that on a daily basis 2.9 billion litres of water which is untreated is dumped in the river Ganga from nearby industries and populated areas. Therefore one environmental factor that in poses serious threat on the health of the masses gathered is related to the supply of safe and clean water. Apart from the industrial discharges, everyday huge amounts of materials used for the rituals like candles, flowers and others are thrown in to then water of the river, which in turn degrades the quality of the river water. Earlier incidents are reported of cholera outbreak in the Kumbh mela grounds due to spread of such infections. Challenges on health due to environmental factors also include the public health and sanitation factor. The main problems associated with poorsanitation are that people gathered in such events do not use proper toilets, instead defecate in the open space, the process of manual scavenging also imposes threat since many sweepers in these process collect the diseases while sweeping the feces. Other problems include lack of network for public health, which increase the disease burden. Open defecation leads to mosquitoes breeding in such areas accompanied by growth of pathogen cultures in such areas which become the reservoir of the diseases (Singh&Bisht2014). The environmental aspects which degrades the quality of health in the population gathered in the Kumbh mela also include factors such as solid waste management and air pollution. The issues related to solid waste management are throwing of trash in the open which attracts rodents who become the infection reservoirs, non-biodegradable components can lead to more waste accumulation which in turn enhance the process of leaching. In the event of Maha Kumbh mela there is a heightened risk of air pollution, since it has been observed that most of the pilgrims who gather there are involved in smoking. The smoke from the choolahs, which is used for cooking during the mela days also adds up to the air pollutions. It had been reported that 15000 patients have been suffering from respiratory problems as a result of the diminishing air quality around the mela premises (Greenough2013). This were some of the environmental health risks that were identified and analysed in the context of the Maha Kumbh mela that challenged the health conditions of the people participating in such mass gatherings.

Legal Frameworks for Crowd Management and Maintenance of Law and Order

For implementation of environmental health principles, the public health should be the prime concern. A study conducted by (David& Roy2016), reported that in order to facilitate proper flow of usable water, the government has taken initiatives to construct extensive pipelines which supplied drinking water to akharas where the pilgrims reside. Additionally in 2013, 46 bore wells were installed which were chlorinated and attached to tanks for provision of potable water. Implementation of such actions took a step in reduction to spread of disease by unhygienic water consumption.For proper administration purposes the arena where the Mela took place was divided into fourteen sectors. The health department successfully installed20 hospital beds with a group of five or six doctors recruited along with a supporting staff of six or seven. There was also a main hospital established which had nearly 100 beds with 700 doctors and huge supporting staff (Hopkins&Reicher2016). Although no food regulations were imposed, but there was a prohibition in using polythene bags in the Mela ground. In order to reduce the air pollution which increases from the smoke of the several choolahs used in the male premises, free Langers were provided to the pilgrimsso that they need not cook. No alcohol or non-vegetarian food is allowed in the mela grounds for religious reasons. The cholera epidemic that took place years ago in the Kumbh mela was identified as the result of the intermingling of the factors like poor quality of river water occurring due to bathing and rituals practised and growth of the pathogens due to improper sanitation and solid waste management (Sridhar, Gautret&Brouqui 2015). The lesson learnt from this incident led to implementation of principles for managing proper sanitation and hygienic conditions as well as solid waste management. Some of the steps that were taken are construction of pit toilets and composting toilets, proper waste collection and development of strategies for proper waste disposal, application of dust suppression strategies to reduce air pollution and waste water control procedures.The event of Maha Kumbh Mela is mostly attended by populations belonging to the lower economic groups, who become more prone to infectious diseases due to lack in their living standards. Most of the pilgrims are also unimmunized. For these reasons the authorities have taken decision to prohibit the individuals suffering from small pox and other communicable diseases from participating in the gathering (Yamin2015).From the reports of David & Roy (2016), it was seen that in the year of 2013, the government successfully installed a mobile telemedicine unit which was equipped to perform minor surgeries and laboratory testing in case of emergencies.  The outcomes of these efforts to ensure better health care of the pilgrims gathering in the mela grounds was significant, which in turn increased the quality of life of the population participating in the Maha Kumbh Mela.

India is a country pf event, festivals, faiths and religions. Due to the 1.2 billion population, the mass gathering events need to be organized at the various levels for the effective management of a large number of people. Maha Kumbh Mela is one such religious festival where people from all over India gather into the holy city of Allahabad for a period of 56 days. The devotees that arrive at the place take a holy dip at the confluence of the sacred river Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganga.  For such a short duration around 100 million people visit the place. Every single day around 30 million people gather and thus it requires a lot of planning and proper management strategy (bsdma.org, 2018).

In order to manage such mass gatherings, the legal frameworks are useful for the purpose of crowd management and maintenance of law and order. The two legal frameworks that are used for this study are: The United Provinces Melas Act, 1938 and The United Provinces Melas Rule 1940. The United Provinces Melas Act, 1938 is an act which is applied to the Magh Mela at Allahabad. This act empowers the District Magistrate as the officer in charge of the of such Mela. According to this act the officer in charge can delegate the power to the additional officer in charge that is appointed by the state. The district magistrate can appoint a committee that are based on the rules mentioned by the state government. The District Magistrate after consulting with the committee can impose fees and tolls in the Mela area. The officer in charge is empowered to allot sites in the mela as per his convenience. The state government can make rules for carrying out certain processes like the establishment of the mela fund. The District Magistrate is also empowered to make rules based on the spread or the outbreak of fire for the purpose of the safety of the structures, buildings and the articles that are bought in the mela. The District also has the power to demolish any structure in the mela during the outbreak and spread of fire. The officer in charge is also authorised to remove any unauthorised construction in the area and the cost of removal can also be recovered from the associated person (Kumbhmelaallahabad.gov.in, 2018a). The inspection of the shops can be carried out any time in the mela area. Muzzling order can be authorized by the officer in charge when an animal is found to be infected with diseases. In order to prevent the spread of the infectious diseases like the smallpox, plague the mela area, any person suffering from such a disease is not allowed to enter the mela area. If any infectious disease outbreaks in the area, then the District Magistrate can take steps to isolate the disease. No person is allowed to throw dead body into the river and within the vicinity of the mela area. Also, no person is allowed to take photographs of the people bathing in the mela area (Kumbhmelaallahabad.gov.in, 2018b)

The responsibilities of the state and the local authorities is governed by the United Provinces Act 138 and 1940. Thus, in order to manage the massive crowd there are 5000 religious organizations that provide shelter to the victims, 30 hospitals, 36 fire stations, 41 police stations. There is also an integrated computer system that can register the missing or the displaced persons through the frequent announcements on the loudspeakers, giant LED screens, pictures and identification posters. There is also the provision of the smartphone applications that can be used for the better facilitation of the visitors in the mela (alnap.org, 2018).

In order to minimize the occurrence of unwanted accidents and incident and provide better facilities to the pilgrims in the form of transport and healthcare, traffic management, civil engineering and others, the government of India is taking several steps as a form of Interdisciplinary approach. For instance, Several issues associated with transportation had taken place during the Kumbh mela that had taken place in the year 2007. Two streamer accidents had taken place due to overcrowding. It is expected that approximately 1.5 million pilgrims will arrive at Kumbh in 2019 (David & Roy, 2016). Hence, in order to prevent previous situation from reoccurrence, the government of India is working on developing a national waterway that will provide the service of steamers for transportation of the pilgrims. Pilgrims will be able to reach Allahabad from Varanasi through the mentioned water ways. Moreover, two weeks before the starting of the festivals extra busses as well as train will be available to the pilgrims in order to prevent any types of road accidents. During the previous Kumbh mela, several innovative initiatives has been were taken by the administration that can listed as follows:

1. Individual blocks had been set up by the administrative departments related to security and management.
2. In order to provide the stakeholders, the market of Kumbh mela was designed in such a way that each sector has its sector market. Such arrangement had made it easier for the consumers to purchase essential commodities.
3. All information related to the mentioned festivals were made available on websites that were dedicated to Kumbh Mela.
4. Site cranes were installed in all the highways that connect to Allahadabad.
5. First aid counters as well as Ambulance were made available in all the highways that connect to Allahadabad.
6. Economic techniques for electric functioning were implemented in the lost and found camps (Illiyas et al., 2013).
7. In order to ensure that the region comprising the Kumbh mela remains clean and hygienic, plastic bags had been banned.

While these are some of the mention worthy facilities, several facilities associated with lack of electricity supply, proper healthcare arrangement and appropriate traffic management were encountered. For instance, there were 22 first aid centers in the entire Kuumbh Mela. Each first aid center was comprised of one AYUSH (Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) healthcare service providers and 2 bed impatient units. Considering the fact that approximately 120 million people had arrived in the Kumbh Mela, the number of first aid centers should be much more than what was provided. Moreover, the number of ambulance, provided by the consumers was also less compared to the total number of pilgrims.

When it comes to the police control rooms, their major role was to house the control for CCTV and PA systems. More than 3000 PA systems and 56 CCTV cameras were installed in the entire Mela. These CTV were used to control the traffic movement, monitor the crowd as well as for keeping general law and orders under control. The CCTV cameras used were highly advanced and possess the capacity to store total footage backup for 12 days. Surveillance was done round the clock and official monitoring of the footage is done in 3 shifts (Greenough, 2013).

Conclusion

The thesis statement of the report is the identification of environmental health issues in the Kumbh mela and steps that have been taken by the government to prevent the mentioned issue. In order to evaluate this issue identification, analysis, as well as the evolution of environmental health risks along with environmental health principles associated with Kumbh Mela, will be performed. Along with that, analysis of the management strategy and interdisciplinary approaches taken by the stakeholders during the festival will be analysed in this report.

Considering the fact that the massive gathering of the people at the Maha Kumbh mela requires effective management of the crowd. The management strategy includes the administrative, legal provisions, transport, healthcare, traffic management and the civil engineering as well. A large number of people has in a place can also result in the different number of the spread of the diseases. Thus, effective identification, analysis, containment, treatment and as well as prevention is also a fundamental part of the management strategy. Both the Central and the state government can work together for the effective management of the crowd and the prevention of the spread of the environmental health risks.

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