Massive Preparations Underway for Bageshwar Dham’s Pandit Dhirendra Krishna Shastri’s Hanumant Katha at Arail Bandh Road, Prayagraj from April 21
By BK Singh
Prayagraj: Preparations have entered the final stage for the three-day Hanumant Katha by Bageshwar Dham’s Pandit Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, scheduled to begin on April 21 near Someshwar Mahadev Temple on Arail Bandh Road.
And the populace of Prayagraj has already braced itself well with this opportunity coming their way.
A massive pandal, with seating capacity for more than two lakh devotees, is nearly ready, reflecting the scale of participation expected at the religious gathering.
The discourse is being organised by the Prayag Utthan Samiti, which has made elaborate arrangements to manage the anticipated influx of devotees.
Police officials who inspected the venue on Sunday said a detailed security blueprint has been put in place.
Around 2,500 personnel from the police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), along with nearly 500 volunteers, will be deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the event.
Devotees arriving by four-wheelers will have to walk for over two kilometres to reach the main venue, as vehicles will be halted at designated parking points. Six parking zones have been created to regulate traffic movement.
Parking arrangements have been made beneath the New Bridge, while separate facilities have been developed near Omaxe City and Saraswati Hi-Tech City for visitors approaching from the Karchana side.
The main entrance gate has been constructed in front of Someshwar Nath Temple, with vehicles from this direction being stopped near Maharshi Ashram.
Given the proximity of the Ganga, special arrangements have also been made for riverfront security.
Around 200 trained divers and nearly 100 water police personnel will remain stationed on boats and steamers to prevent any untoward incident along the riverbank.
Inspector Naini Brij Kishore Gautam said the security grid has been strengthened both on land and in the water, keeping in mind the exceptionally large turnout expected during the discourse.
Pandit Dhirendra Krishna Shastri represents Bageshwar Dham in Madhya Pradesh, a revered religious centre associated with an ancient temple of Pawan Sut Lord Hanuman.
A disciple of Jagadguru Swami Ram Bhadracharya — the distinguished spiritual scholar who lost his eyesight at the age of two and later established a university dedicated to visually impaired students at Chitrakoot — Shastri has emerged as one of the most prominent contemporary narrators of Hanumant Katha.
Known for his deep devotion to Lord Hanuman, he travels widely across India and abroad, drawing large gatherings wherever he speaks.
Devotees often describe the atmosphere at his programmes as charged with faith and anticipation.
Many followers believe he possesses an unusual ability to articulate the questions and concerns with which devotees approach him, particularly during the Divya Darbar sessions, where names are drawn from a box, and individuals are invited on stage.
In recent years, Shastri has emerged as one of the biggest crowd-pullers among contemporary religious preachers of his genre. On several occasions, Gatheringss exceeding six lakh people have been reported at venues hosting his discourses.
Such massive congregations inevitably pose logistical challenges for local administrations, with crowd management emerging as the single most critical aspect of planning.
Across India, stampedes at religious gatherings have claimed thousands of lives over the past decade, making preventive arrangements an administrative priority whenever large congregations are expected.
Notably, there has been no widely reported large-scale fatal stampede directly linked to Hanumant Katha or Divya Darbar events addressed by Dhirendra Krishna Shastri so far.
However, isolated crowd-related incidents connected with events at Bageshwar Dham Balaji Temple have been reported in the past.
In July 2025, one devotee lost his life, and several others were injured after a temporary tent structure collapsed during a religious gathering linked to Shastri’s birthday celebrations.
The casualty was attributed primarily to the structural failure of the tent, which created panic-like conditions in the crowd.
The incident was not comparable to major crowd crush tragedies witnessed at large religious congregations elsewhere in the country in recent years.
With lessons drawn from past incidents across India, both organisers and the Prayagraj administration are carefully reviewing structural safety and crowd flow arrangements for the Arail event.
The strength of the massive tent structure is being repeatedly assessed, while entry and exit routes are being planned to minimise congestion.
Large religious gatherings are not new to Prayagraj — the historic city situated at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at the Sangam.
Accustomed to managing vast congregations during major religious occasions, local authorities and residents alike are familiar with the discipline such events demand.
As the city prepares for the three-day spiritual discourse, faith and administration appear to be working in tandem — an effort to ensure that devotion unfolds in an atmosphere of safety, order and collective responsibility.
