Desliting of Gayaji dam, ponds begins ahead of Pitripaksh Mela

Gaya: District magistrate (DM) Shashank Shubhankar held a meeting with stakeholders of Pitripaksh Mela and senior officials here on Saturday, to discuss preparations for the fortnight event scheduled this year from Sept 6 to 21.

He instructed officials to decide a theme and decorate the mela area with paintings.The DM instructed to tag locations of all the ‘pind vedis' on Google map, and integrate AI (artificial intelligence) based chat bot in the mobile app and portals. "These advanced technologies will help the tech-savvy pilgrims to solve language related problem and trace the landmark of desired ‘pind vedis', he said. The administration has already launched a mobile app especially for the pilgrims.

The app comprises information like pind vedis and ponds, contact details of local priests (Panda Ji), hotels, guest houses, dharamshalas, besides district and police officials and other related information about reaching Gayaji.

Meanwhile, the cleaning of silt from the bottom of Gayaji dam began on Sunday so that pilgrims can take a dip in the clean water before performing rituals and offering ‘tarpan'. The DM also instructed to get the silt cleaned near Saraswati, Dharmaranya, Pitamaheshwar and other ‘pind vedi' sites, falling along the Falgu river side.

The pilgrims perform tarpan at eight ponds and pinddaan at 52 pind vedis spread from Pretshila (North of Gayaji town) to Bodh Gaya (south). During the last two years, after the expansion of the ghats of Falgu river, huge number of pilgrims have come to perform the rituals. According to the district administration, about 23 lakh pilgrims reached Gayaji during the fortnight-long Pitripaksh last year.The DM further instructed senior officials, heading different committees, to constitute sub-committees for physical inspection of the ongoing preparations.

He also asked them to hold weekly meeting of officials and the staff, and prepare a checklist to ensure proper division of work.He instructed municipal commissioner to get a survey conducted and prepare a plan for repair of the roads, slabs and the grill of drains of the mela area, restart the laser light show and fountain at Vaitarni pond, get the broken tiles at Deoghat replaced and ensure availability of drinking water, besides, cleaning and repair of toilets and changing rooms.Installation of additional power transformers, proper lighting arrangements leaving no dark spot, parking, accommodation arrangements were among other instructions, the DM gave to officials concerned at the meeting.Gaya: District magistrate (DM) Shashank Shubhankar held a meeting with stakeholders of Pitripaksh Mela and senior officials here on Saturday, to discuss preparations for the fortnight event scheduled this year from Sept 6 to 21.

He instructed officials to decide a theme and decorate the mela area with paintings.The DM instructed to tag locations of all the ‘pind vedis' on Google map, and integrate AI (artificial intelligence) based chat bot in govt app and portals. "These advanced technologies will help the tech-savvy pilgrims to solve language related problem and trace the landmark of desired ‘pind vedis', he said. Meanwhile, the cleaning of silt from the bottom of Gayaji dam began on Sunday so that pilgrims can take a dip in the clean water before performing rituals and offering ‘tarpan'.

The DM also instructed to get the silt cleaned near Saraswati, Dharmaranya, Pitamaheshwar and other ‘pind vedi' sites, falling along the Falgu river side.The pilgrims perform tarpan at eight ponds and pinddaan at 52 pind vedis spread from Pretshila (North of Gayaji town) to Bodh Gaya (south). During the last two years, after the expansion of the ghats of Falgu river, huge number of pilgrims have come to perform the rituals.

According to the district administration, about 23 lakh pilgrims reached Gayaji during the fortnight-long Pitripaksh last year.The DM further instructed senior officials, heading different committees, to constitute sub-committees for physical inspection of the ongoing preparations. He also asked them to hold weekly meeting of officials and the staff, and prepare a checklist to ensure proper division of work.He instructed municipal commissioner to get a survey conducted and prepare a plan for repair of the roads, slabs and the grill of drains of the mela area, restart the laser light show and fountain at Vaitarni pond, get the broken tiles at Deoghat replaced and ensure availability of drinking water, besides, cleaning and repair of toilets and changing rooms.Installation of additional power transformers, proper lighting arrangements leaving no dark spot, parking, accommodation arrangements were among other key instructions, the DM gave to officials concerned at the meeting.