Ganga Sagar Mela

This is the second largest festival in India and largest in West Bengal.

1. Presented by
Bidhan Chandra Chaudhuri
MLIS 2007 – 2008
Roll No. 10
Guided by
Dr. Subarna Kumar Das
Senior Lecturer
Dept. of LIS, J.U.

2. Sagar Island
•South 24 Parganas
West Bengal • India
Coordinates: 21°36 to 21° 56’ ′
North latitude and 88°2’ to 88°11’
East latitude
Time zone: IST (UTC+5:30)
•Sagar dwip is the largest dwip (island)
in the Bay of Bengal
•Sagar Island 150 km (80 nautical miles)
south of Kolkata. The island is large —
with an area of around 300 sq km.
•It has 44 villages and a population of
over 160,000.
•It is also rich in mangrove swamps,
waterways and small rivers.

3. Places of Interest
•Kapil Muni temple at South Sagar
•Fairgrounds at South Sagar
•Sea beach at South Sagar
•Sagar Marine Park at South Sagar
•Sagar Lighthouse and Port at Beguakhali
•Ramkrisna Mission Ashram
•Sushama Devichowdhurani Marine Biological
Research Institute. (SDMBRI) at Bamankhali
•Chimaguri Mudflat- It is the entry point to the
Mangrove Forest
•Wind Mills - The island gets its electricity from
the wind energy
Kapil Muni Tample

4. Sab Teertha Baar Baar Ganga Sagar Ek
Bar
•You can go to all the holy places, but a pilgrimage to Ganga
Sagar equals them all.
•A dip means redemption for all wrong done.
This place is Sagar Island, on the confluence of the Ganga
with the Bay of Bengal.

5. A Holy dip
Gangasagar Mela is the largest fair
celebrated in West Bengal and second
largest in India. This fair is held where
the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal form a
nexus. Hence the name Gangasagar
Mela. It is celebrated during 12
th
to 15
th
January every year. A holy dip is
celebrated on Makar Sankranti, last day
of the Bengali Month Poush.

6. Common Belief
•There is a common belief among
the locals that the girls who take
the holy dip get handsome grooms
and the boys get beautiful brides.
•They head towards the Kapilmuni
Temple situated nearby, to
worship the deity as a mark of
respect.
•The temple is run by the
Ramanandi saints of the Hanuman
garhi of Ayodhya.
•The priest once appointed from
that group of saint of Ayodhya and
ultimately after some times they
demanded and established their
claim over the temple.
•http://www.indiaprofile.com/pilgrimage/gangasagarmela.htm
Kapil Muni

7. Communication
•From Kolkata/Sealdah
By Train
By CSTC Bus
By Private Car
•From Sagar Island
By Bus
By Private Jeep
By Private Car
•http://wikitravel.org/en/Sagar_Island

8. Train Service from Sealdah
•Both the points Namkhana and Harwood Point can
be reached by train from Sealdah Station. There are
direct trains to Kakdwip from Sealdah Station with
link trains to Namkhana. Train fare up to Kakdwip is
Rs. 18 only. From Kakdwip, Harwood Point is only
5 Km. and Namkhana is 12 Km. by bus or jeep.

9. CSTC Bus Service from
Esplanade/Babughat/Taratala
•Sagar Island can be approached from either Harwood
point or Namkhana. Both the points are linked by
Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC) or West
Bengal Surface Transport Corporation buses. Distance
of Harwood Point is around 80 Km. from Kolkata and
Namkhana is 13 Kilometers more. Bus fare from
Kolkata (Esplanade) to Namkhana is around Rs. 60
(during Mela 2008). During the Mela, busses will end
at the ferry crossing in Harwood point (or also called
'Lot 8'), and they will start in Kolkata also from
Babughat, Howrah Railway Station and Taratola in
South Kolkata

10. Private Car Service
•It is possible to go the entire length by private car or
hired car from Kolkata. At Harwood Point there is
provision to transport vehicle with the help of a
barge locally known as LCT. There are no fixed time
for the crossings, because it is totally dependent on
the water-level and thus, on the tides. The charge for
a light or medium vehicle is Rs.300/-. The fare
increases at the time of Ganagasagar Mela (The Fair).

11. Ferri Service
•To reach Sagar Island one must cross the Muriganga
river/creek by ferry service. Ferry service is available
in both Harwood point and Namkhana and
controlled by West Bengal Surface Transport
Corporation. Frequency of crossings are more in
Harwood point and it is once in every half an hour.
The fare for a single crossing for a person is Rs. 6/-
as on December 2005. The fare increases at the time
of Ganagasagar Mela (The Fair); Rs. 40.00, during
2008 Mela.

12. From Sagar Island
•After reaching Sagar Island one have to cross the whole
stretch of Sagar Island (32 Km.) by local bus or shared
taxi or private taxi. The bus fare should be around
Rs.10. A private jeep charges around Rs.800-900 for
one way, so if shared by 9 passengers a fare of Rs.100 is
a fair price. There is no accommodation available on the
point of crossing (Kachuberia), so everybody has to
travel the whole stretch of the Island and reach the
southernmost part, where accommodations are
abundant.

13. From Haldia
•Except from Namkhana and Harwood Point, there is
also a direct ferry service available to Kachuberia
(Sagar Island) from Haldia.

14. Accommodation
 During Sagar Mela, there are a number of accommodation
in the form of camps/hutments from many commercial and
non commercial organizations.
If you bring your own mattress and sleeping bag you'll will
find a shelter in any way, though.
It is advisable to book your accommodation prior to go to
Sagar Island in the time of Sagar Mela.
The following organizations provide shelter for tourist and
pilgrims round the year:

15. Accommodation
State Youth Hostel- Charge for a Double
bed room with attached bath is Rs. 100
per day. Check in time is at 12 noon.
(Booking Office: Directorate of Youth
Services, 32/1, B.B.D. Bag (South), Calcutta -
700001. Ph: [phone].)
Bharat Sevashram Sangha and a couple of
other ashrams
They usually offer accommodation and
meals for free (they are oriented
to pilgrims), but would expect a
donation.
Larica Sagar (Tourist Lodge), Telephone
[phone].
State Youth Hostel

16. Safety Measure
•Carry mosquito net
•Carry Electric Torches and other means of
Emergency Lights.
•Avoid traveling at night with insufficient light
•Apply some snake repellents in their room before
going to bed
•It is better to use a mosquito net to protect oneself
not only from mosquitoes, but also from snakes

17. Pilgrims
•In 2007, about 300,000 pilgrims took the holy dip on
the occasion of Makar Sankranti. The figure was
lower by around 200,000 because of Kumbh Mela.
•Almost five lakh pilgrims thronged Sagar Island in
2008.

18. Government Activities
•They arrange for the accommodation, sanitation,
fooding, water supply, etc. all the infrastructure
facilities for the tourists.
•The local people are appointed as skilled, unskilled,
and semi-skilled workers in construction of road,
yatrinibas, Hoghla cottage, latrine, bathroom etc.
and hence they get opportunity to earn.

19. Government Activities
The Coast Guard and the Navy, with their dorniers and
howercrafts and divers, join-in the local administration to
keep a strict vigil to prevent any accident or untoward
incident.
Volunteers of HAM brigade-posted with readily available
alternate communication facility through their handsets-
also aid the security agencies at all the sensitive points of the
fair. Their association helped in preventing the lifting of
children for trafficking. Besides, these volunteers are a boon
in the wake of any unforeseen natural calamity.

20. Government Activities
Eastern Railways provides special train service during
the Fair.
Telecommunication make massive arrangements
providing IST, STD and Internet services to the
visitors and the media 24 hours a day during the five-
day fair.

21. Impact on Socio-economic Life
As per demand of tourists, communication with kolkata and
related other places are improving day by day
The ferri ghat at Gangasagar is adequately developed
The local people earn a lot during the festival. They are
engaged in preparing hogla cottage, latrines, fooding and
other infrastructural activities. They also run hotels, tea-
stalls, shops.
Telephone booths are also helpful to the local people

22. Impact on Socio-economic Life
A drastic change is observed in dress, style and fashion of
the local boys and girls.
Pollute physical and social life
Village boys are becoming alcoholic day by day.
Simple honest people are gradually becoming dishonest,
business-minded and cunning
Due to insufficient latrine visitors use village path and beach
area as their toilet
Rubbish, plastic packets, garbage and bad smell spread all
around pollute the environment

23. Users
•Millions of Hindu pilgrims and devotees from all
over india and from neighbouring countries like,
Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
•Tourist of different religions, casts, creeds from all
over the world.

24. Limitations
Poor and illiterate village people are far from the reach of
internet facility though majority of pilgrims are from that
community.
Collection developments are mainly done through webpage
searching. Personal visit is not possible due to shortage of
time.
Uploading files to the internet sometimes create a lot of
problems.
Design and development of HTML files are really an
interesting one as well as a critical tasks as we do not get
sufficient time to learn it.

25. Conclusion
Economically backward village people of Sagardwip
are eagerly waiting for the festival as this is meant for
their major source of income. The development of the
island is due to the festival.
The greatness of the mela can be assessed from the fact
that over a million pilgrims come from far-flung
corners of India and beyond, speaking different
languages and belonging to diverse castes and creeds,
for a sacred dip at this holy confluence.