Magh Mela: 73 reunited with kin on day one

Prayagraj: Continuing with their eight-decades-old legacy, the organisers of the ‘Bhoole Bhatke Shivir' on Sunday claimed to have reunited 73 missing and lost people, including 70 adults and 3 kids, with their families on the first day of the Magh Mela.A group of 20 volunteers of the Bhoole Bhatke Shivir, the iconic lost-and-found camp, is celebrating its 80th year of selfless service, welcoming pilgrims and devotees to the annual Magh Mela. Since 1946, the Bhoole Bhatke Shivir volunteers have been a beacon of hope for families separated in the crowds of Magh Mela, Ardh Kumbh, and Maha Kumbh, reuniting countless loved ones thanks to the vision of its founder, Raja Ram Tiwari.When Tiwari died in Aug 2016 at the age of 88, his son, Umesh Kumar Tiwari, took over the organisation.Umesh told TOI, "The volunteers of the organisation started helping lost people with the reunion of their families since Jan 1 (New Year) on the banks of the Ganga and reunited 150 people with their families in the past three days, including 73 people on Paush Purnima snan day on Saturday.""After witnessing the huge rush of devotees in Maha Kumbh-2025 and reuniting over 30,000 people, and anticipating a similar crowd pattern, we started working since the first day of this year to serve the pilgrims and devotees in the Magh Mela."Volunteers from cities like Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Prayagraj, Kanpur, and Lucknow are assigned duties for the 44-day Mela, Tiwari said."This Magh Mela, we are working on both, manual and digital desks, for the grand annual fair," he said. "A team of volunteers is deployed in all the seven sectors, who will look for lost people and take them to the camp until they are reunited with their family," he added.Apart from making frequent announcements, the volunteers will also circulate details of missing people on social media platforms and form groups on popular messaging apps to reunite families during this Magh Mela, said Tiwari.