Mela Inspector General Sanjay Gunjyal also said the religious event formally began on April 1 by which time the second wave of Covid was already raging in states like Maharashtra and Haryana.
The Intelligence Branch had submitted a report to the state stating that as many as three organisations are planning large-scale gatherings at the airport and on the roads and show black flags to the prime minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday returned home after concluding his successful visit to Japan, which promised to give $35 billion (Rs 2.1 lakh crore) to India over the next five years for developmental projects, as the two sides agreed to enhance their strategic cooperation to a new level.
The ministry said it has launched an inquiry to ascertain as to how this "factual information" was not included in the ministry's response to an RTI query.
Markets in Uttarakhand's Purola and neighbouring towns remained closed amid heavy police deployment on Thursday in protest against the imposition of prohibitory orders to prevent a 'mahapanchayat' that was scheduled to be held there over alleged incidents of 'love jihad'.
'After his road shows, the people of Varanasi are debating what forced the prime minister to move around in the narrow lanes of Varanasi.' 'If he had taken out one road show, no one would have objected.' 'But what was the need to do it thrice?'
A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman referred to the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that not "even a bit" of compromise can be made on COVID-19 containment and said the citizens were perplexed about the happenings in view of the fact that as the UP government has allowed the religious 'yatra' commencing from July 25.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in Uttarakhand and noted that rescue operations are underway to help the affected.
'It was a 20-minute boat ride journey of about 500 metres, but it must have been a giant leap together for the two staunchly secular leaders, Modi and Macron,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Farah shoots with Karan and Manish... Look, who Amitabh has as his guests on KBC... Varun gives us Bhediya...
A court in New Delhi on Tuesday reserved its order on an intervention application claiming the intervenor was a "necessary party" to an appeal seeking restoration of Hindu and Jain deities in an alleged temple complex inside the Qutub Minar.
Tourists have been thronging hills as the heatwave has hit the plains and the second wave of COVID-19 seeing a significant decline in the country, although the gross violation of Covid-appropriate behaviour by the visitors was accounted for in Haridwar on Friday.
Flash floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 22 people in India and forced more than 1,70,000 from their homes.
Twenty people were killed on Saturday in rain-related incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan even as rivers continued to be in spate in Bihar.
Delhi is staring at a water crisis amid the rising heat, with the water levels at the Wazirabad pond depleting alarmingly due to less flow in the Yamuna, officials said.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tracks Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's project-launching spree with just about three months to go for the assembly election in India's most populous state.
The flood situation in Bihar is showing signs of improvement after the swollen rivers started receding on Friday. For nearly a week major rivers like Ganga had wreaked havoc in the state.
The photos were shared on Instagram by Anuraj with the caption, "Mermaid in disaster!! Shot during the flood like situation in Patna."
Neeraj Chopra's Tokyo Olympics javelin and Lovlina Borgohain's boxing gloves hogged the limelight on day two of the third edition of the e-auction of gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
Macron and Modi will participate in several programmes in Varanasi, including a boat ride on river Ganga.
A day after Cyclone Yaas tore through coastal Odisha and Bengal to cause havoc as far as Jharkhand, tornadoes, torrential rains, bridge collapses and swelling rivers continued to plague eastern India as people tried to pick up their lives amid the debris of swept away mud homes and swamped farmlands.
'And Joshimath has already shown the dangers ahead.' 'We have to acknowledge that our mountains are still young babies.' 'You don't put an extra load on the back of a growing child!'
The Solar Impulse 2, claimed to be the world's only solar-powered aircraft, took off from Oman on tuesday to head towards Ahmedabad.
Only the government has the capacity to collate all death data across all facilities and count corpses dumped in rivers. And the government is patently not interested in finding out, observes Devangshu Datta.
The Maha Kumbh is celebrated in a cycle of 12 years at four river-bank pilgrimage sites across India. The fair will conclude in the last week of April.
The Centre will promote Kisan Drones, chemical-free natural farming, public-private partnerships for the delivery of digital and high-tech services to farmers across the country during the financial year 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Sitharaman said the inclusive development is one of the four priorities of the government moving forward. As part of the inclusive development, the government will promote the use of 'Kisan Drones' for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides. The government will also facilitate a fund with blended capital raised under the co-investment model through Nabard to finance agri start-ups and rural enterprises, she said.
Cyclonic storm Yaas is very likely to make landfall near Balasore in north Odisha with a speed of 155 kmph to 165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph, around noon on May 26, the Met department said.
The 11-yr-old has already earned the sobriquet 'Nanhi Jalpari'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 70 on Thursday, and wishes poured in from top dignitaries, including the President and Vice President, Union ministers and leaders from across the political divide. The Bharatiya Janata Party is organising a number of events, mainly aimed at public service, across the country to celebrate Modi's birthday as 'Sewa Divas'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ventured out on the streets of Varanasi in the early hours of Tuesday and visited the just-inaugurated Kashi Vishwanath Dham and the Banaras railway station.
During her three-day visit, Priyanka will cover a distance of 100-km by boat in Ganga from Prayagraj to Varanasi.
Cabinet Minister Uma Bharti on Monday committed a faux pas when she announced her portfolio on Twitter even though the official word on the appointments to the various ministries was still awaited.
It stands at a distance watching soundlessly as multiple teams work to reach those buried under mounds of debris and is sometimes heard breaking into howls of anguish -- a canine sentinel watching the rescue mission in its search for its missing puppies.
New Delhi also agreed to undertake, a joint inspection with Bangladesh, on the problem of erosion and drainage of Ichhamati river in West Bengal.
A tribute to the unsung heroes.
The water level rose above the danger mark in Haridwar and Delhi and the level at Bhakra dam was a foot above the permissible mark.
Asked if the efforts of the government should have been more in providing relief right now than managing their own image and perception, the National Award-winning actor said it is important for the government to rise to the occasion and do things for the people who elected them.
Ultimately the Kumbh Mela is about the babas, or holy men, what with the akharas turning up in full strength to make the religious gathering what it is. Some of the holy men have proved to be a big draw at the ongoing Kumbh Mela. Here are some videos showcasing their popularity.
What is particularly worrying is that the vast majority will not have access to testing or even to proper treatment. These cases could have been avoided if the government had shown the political will to do so, observes Rashme Sehgal.
