Prayagraj: From glow-in-the-dark accessories and activated Google location to designating a specific landmark as a meeting point and personalised name tags with addresses, people have come up with unique ways to ensure that their near and dear ones are not lost amidst the sea of humanity at the world’s largest religious congregation Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.
“Move over the 1970s’ favourite Bollywood -lost-in-Kumbh potboiler. This is 2025 and nobody gets lost in Maha Kumbh,” said Uma Shankar from Pangara village in Banda who arrived in the Tent City along with his wife and 22-year-old daughter Annu Tripathi who was born with Down’s syndrome. Annu wears a Kumbh lanyard with a QR code and the Google location on her phone has also been activated by her parents to guarantee her safety.
The Prayagraj Mela Authority has set up a total of 10 digital ‘Lost & Found’ camps. Besides, a dedicated team of 40 volunteers who man the traditional Bhoole Bhatke Shivir now has technology to assist them re-unite families. The 79-year-old institution is now maintaining the records of lost & found persons both manually and digitally. The police team managing the ‘Lost & Found’ centre said that 360 people made different kinds of announcements on Monday, the first day of Maha Kumbh. “At least 250 people were reunited, while the remaining ones shared information about missing wallets, keys, mobile phones, and personal belongings,” said sub-inspector AK Singh, who was among the policemen deputed at the centre.
Having been set up on the banks of the Ganga in 1946 by the late Raja Ram Tiwari, also called ‘Bhule Bhatke Walon Ka Baba’, the shivir organisers claimed to have reunited over 15.22 lakh people till 2024.
Led by the CM Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh govt has this time implemented a cutting-edge lost-and-found system for the Maha Kumbh, ensuring that every visitor-especially children and elderly- is safeguarded, and no one gets separated from their loved ones. These centres will feature digital registration for anyone who goes missing, allowing families and friends to locate them more easily.
Help is handy at 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela with omnipresent QR code hoardings and help desks, said Megha Shah from Botad in Gujarat. “Besides, I am taking my own steps to ensure safety. I had preserved a glow-in-the-dark jacket of my kid that I had ordered online for her annual function,” she added.
Priya Raj – a devotee from Tamil Nadu – had enrolled her 10-year-old kid in a special Hindi class so that he is able to communicate in case he is lost. “Though I read online that the UP govt has made high-tech arrangements, I wanted to be doubly sure as a mother. Therefore, I made my son learn basic Hindi,” she said.
