North India’s Little-Known Garhmukteshwar Ganga Festival
November 6th, 2009Source: epaper.hindustantimes.com
GARHMUKTESHWAR, INDIA, November 3, 2009: Aside from the Kumbh Mela, the Hindu religious gathering that takes place once in 12 years, the 10-day annual Garhmukteshwar Ganga Fair on the banks of the Ganga is the largest festival in North India in terms of attendance. The official number of visitors to the annual fair is close to 3 million.But unlike the Kumbh, which receives around US$850,000 from the government and gets twenty million visitors for two months, the Garh fair is still awaiting recognition. The place has considerable religious importance of the Hindus, as a bathing here on the full-moon day of Kartika is traditional to many.
Garhmukteshwar — 58 miles from Delhi — still does not figure in the official list of state fairs in Uttar Pradesh. “The fair is organized by the District Gram Panchayat department and is incurring heavy losses every year with an increase in the number of visitors,” said Additional Chief Officer Aditya Kumar from the department.
