Tenders Worth Rs 4,000 Crore Issued; Rs 2,000 Crore More to Follow

The Simhastha's preparation has crossed the line from announcement to procurement. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said tenders for works worth about Rs 4,000 crore have already been issued, with tenders for a further Rs 2,000 crore to follow shortly. The state's sanctioned plan for the mela stands at Rs 25,055 crore.

Three strands of work are visibly under way. Sewage treatment plants are being built or upgraded, because the single hardest problem of a river mela is what happens to the water when a district-sized population arrives beside it. Godavari cleaning is running alongside. And land acquisition for Sadhugram, the temporary city that houses the akhadas and much of the sadhu population, is proceeding, which is the long pole in any Kumbh timetable.

The scale is easier to grasp in what it buys than in the number itself. Roads have to carry vehicles a normal Nashik year never sees. Water has to be piped to a settlement that does not yet exist. Drains, power, hospitals and fire posts have to be laid on a floodplain and then removed. It is one of the largest temporary settlements human beings build anywhere, and it is assembled twice a generation.

For pilgrims, the relevant question is not the budget but the sequencing: whether the ghats, the approach roads and the sanitation are finished before October 2026, when the flags go up and the first visitors start arriving. Officials have been asked to treat the deadlines as fixed.