Before sunrise tomorrow the first holy dip would have taken place at the Sangam.

It would mark the beginning of the Mahakumbh, a once after every 12 years Hindu religious congregation at Allahabad.

Initial signs are that ten crore people are going to visit the city in the next two months or so beginning with the first of the six ‘shahi snans’.

The complete Kumbh area is plastered with toll-free helpline numbers of the police control room (1944), fire service (1945) and ambulance (1946).

The tents that are being offered to the general public are not up to the mark and the toilets meant for the non-VIPs are filthy.

Network congestion has become pretty much a routine. Local BSNL officials said that the main reason behind this was the fact that setups of private operators have still not come in.

More than 30 percent of the staff performing Kumbh duties has developed symptoms of chilblains – a tissue injury that arise when a predisposed individual is exposed to cold and humidity.

Though mercury tends to go up with the Makar Sankranti coming, nights on the banks of the Sangam are colder in comparison to the other portions of the city.