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Plan your Kumbh · Press and research

Covering or Studying the Kumbh: Media Passes and Sources

KumbhMela.info Editorial TeamChecked on Wed 21 Oct 2026

At past melas the state's information department issued media passes before the mela, on its own form: in 2021 Haridwar issued 1,164. No accreditation for 2027 or 2028 is announced yet.

ExpectedChecked on Wed 21 Oct 2026

Each row says whether it is announced for the coming mela, not announced yet, or what happened at an earlier mela (precedent).

For research, the most useful sources are the official records: Haridwar's 2021 administrative report, the CAG's audit of the 2013 mela, and the studies the Prayagraj Mela Authority commissioned.

Media passes and media centres

  • Haridwar2021Precedent

    Before the 2021 mela the information department issued a Hindi and English media advisory with registration forms, took pass applications by email and WhatsApp, and issued 1,164 media passes.1

  • Haridwar2021Precedent

    The 2021 media centre had 44 computers, a press conference room and housing in 125 Swiss cottages; bathing-day press releases gave bather, vehicle and train counts.1

  • Haridwar2010Precedent

    In 2010 foreign journalists needed a J visa; 25 registered foreign journalists got passes, and a media platform on Malviya Dweep served photo and video coverage of Har Ki Pauri.1

  • Haridwar2026Not announced yet

    Media accreditation for 2027 is not announced, and the official site has no media page as of 21 October 2026. In 2021 the advisory came out before the mela.2,1

  • Prayagraj2025Precedent

    The UP Chief Minister opened a Maha Kumbh media centre on 9 January 2025; on 23 January the I&B Secretary visited the Parade Ground media centre and its journalist workstations.3,4,5

  • Prayagraj2025Precedent

    The Ministry of Tourism's Incredible India Pavilion, opened on 12 January 2025, served foreign tourists, scholars, researchers, journalists and photographers, PIB said.6

  • Nashik2026Announced for 2027

    The June 2026 plan lists a media centre, media camps and press workers' camps among tentative components. No accreditation process is announced yet.7

  • Ujjain2026Not announced yet

    No media centre or accreditation is announced for Simhastha 2028 as of 21 October 2026, and we found no official account of the 2016 arrangements online today.8

Sources (8)
  1. Kumbh Mela administration Haridwar, Government of Uttarakhand (posted on the Haridwar Kumbh 2027 website): Kumbh Administrative Report 2021 (Kumbh Prashasanik Report 2021), Haridwar (2021)
  2. Haridwar Kumbh Mela administration, Government of Uttarakhand: Important Documents and public notice lists, Haridwar Kumbh 2027 official website
  3. DD News (Prasar Bharati): CM Yogi inaugurated the media center for Maha Kumbh (Hindi) (2025)
  4. All India Radio News (Akashvani): I & B Secretary reviews coverage of Mahakumbh at Prayagraj (2025)
  5. DD India (Prasar Bharati): I&B Secretary Sanjay Jaju reviews operations of media units at Maha Kumbh (2025)
  6. Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India: Mahakumbh 2025: A Spectacle of Faith, Unity, and Tradition (PIB feature, PDF) (2025)
  7. Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik, Government of Maharashtra: Kumbh Mela Plan (First Edition), Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2027: inclusion, parking, lost and found, media and Sadhugram sections (2026)
  8. Free Press Journal: MP News: CM Mohan Yadav orders completion of Simhastha projects by Diwali 2027; 22 projects approved (2026)
Pilgrims crossing a long pontoon bridge towards the tent city during the 2013 Kumbh Mela in PrayagrajPhoto: Shak.On, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A pontoon bridge to the Kumbh camps, Prayagraj 2013.

Official reports, audits and studies

Books and archives

An albumen photograph of a riverside ghat below Allahabad Fort, with tiled-roof buildings and a domed tower above a sandy bank stacked with sacks and barrels, and boats on the river at left.Photo: unknown photographer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ghat at Allahabad Fort, an albumen print of 1858 to 1861.

Using numbers with care

Attendance figures at the Kumbh are official estimates. The CAG’s audit of the 2013 mela found no scientific method for counting pilgrims. Say whose figure you quote, and for which days.

Our page on Maha Kumbh 2025 numbers lists the official figures and where each comes from. For who does what, read who runs a Kumbh Mela; for the 2017 listing, the UNESCO listing.

The Kumbh tent city at Prayagraj in 2019, seen from Shastri BridgePhoto: Balone21, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Kumbh tent city at Prayagraj in 2019, seen from Shastri Bridge.

Questions people ask

How do journalists get a Kumbh media pass?

From the state information department that runs the media centre. Before the 2021 Haridwar mela it published a media advisory with registration forms and took applications by email and WhatsApp. For 2027 nothing is announced yet.

Do foreign journalists need a special visa for the Kumbh?

In 2010 foreign journalists covering the Haridwar Kumbh needed a J (journalist) visa. Check the current visa category with the Indian mission before you apply.

How many people attended Maha Kumbh 2025?

The mela authority’s official cumulative footfall figure was 66.3 crore up to 26 February 2025. The CAG found in its audit of the 2013 mela that there was no scientific method for counting pilgrims.

Where next

Har Ki Pauri, HaridwarPhoto: TirthProvisionalहरिद्वार कुंभ 2027Haridwar Kumbh 2027Thu 14 Jan to Tue 20 Apr 2027Open the guideRamkund on Makar Sankranti 2025Photo: Rohit R Nashik, CC BY-SA 4.0Officialनासिक कुंभ 2027Nashik–Trimbakeshwar SimhasthaMain bathing Aug to Sep 2027Open the guideRam Ghat on the ShipraPhoto: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0Expectedउज्जैन सिंहस्थ 2028Ujjain Simhastha 202827 Mar to 27 May 2028Open the guideBoats at the Sangam, PrayagrajPhoto: Ninara, CC BY 2.0Expectedप्रयागराज माघ मेला 2027Prayagraj Magh Mela 2027Magh Mela, 15 Jan to 6 Mar 2027Open the guide

Sources

18 sources · checked 21 Oct 2026
  1. Important Documents and public notice lists, Haridwar Kumbh 2027 official website · Haridwar Kumbh Mela administration, Government of Uttarakhand ·
  2. Kumbh Administrative Report 2021 (Kumbh Prashasanik Report 2021), Haridwar · Kumbh Mela administration Haridwar, Government of Uttarakhand (posted on the Haridwar Kumbh 2027 website) ·
  3. Mahakumbh 2025: A Spectacle of Faith, Unity, and Tradition (PIB feature, PDF) · Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India ·
  4. Kumbh Mela Plan (First Edition), Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2027: inclusion, parking, lost and found, media and Sadhugram sections · Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik, Government of Maharashtra ·
  5. Authorized Name and Logo for Simhastha kumbhmela 2027 · Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik, Government of Maharashtra ·
  6. MP News: CM Mohan Yadav orders completion of Simhastha projects by Diwali 2027; 22 projects approved · Free Press Journal ·
  7. CM Yogi inaugurated the media center for Maha Kumbh (Hindi) · DD News (Prasar Bharati) ·
  8. I & B Secretary reviews coverage of Mahakumbh at Prayagraj · All India Radio News (Akashvani) ·
  9. I&B Secretary Sanjay Jaju reviews operations of media units at Maha Kumbh · DD India (Prasar Bharati) ·
  10. Ancestry records of pilgrim centres to shed light on India's past · The Hindu (Sreeparna Chakrabarty) ·
  11. Report No. 3 of 2014: Performance Audit on Maha Kumbh Mela-2013, Allahabad (report page) · Comptroller and Auditor General of India ·
  12. Prayagraj Kumbh 2019: An Integrative Assessment (G Ramesh, Ritu Tripathi, Prateek Raj) · Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, for the Prayagraj Mela Authority (hosted on kumbh.gov.in) ·
  13. Public Management in the Extreme: LSE Case Study Research on the 2019 Prayagraj Kumbh Mela Festival, Final Report (Michael Barzelay and Luciano Andrenacci, February 2021) · London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Management, under contract with the Prayagraj Mela Authority (hosted on kumbh.gov.in) ·
  14. Study on Kumbh (reading list) and pilgrim counter, Maha Kumbh 2025 official website · Prayagraj Mela Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh ·
  15. Kumbh Mela: mapping the ephemeral megacity (library catalogue record) · Canadian Centre for Architecture library catalogue ·
  16. Mapping a megacity's metabolism · Harvard Gazette, Harvard University ·
  17. Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765-1954 (Kama Maclean) · Oxford University Press (Oxford Academic) ·
  18. Kumbh Mela, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (nomination file No. 01258) · UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ·