Thousands of pilgrims travelling to Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh Mela via Madhya Pradesh on Sunday found themselves stuck in traffic jams “stretching up to 300 kilometers” on inter-state highways, the Hindustan Times reported.

A video shared widely on social media showed an official from the Madhya Pradesh Police urging devotees to turn back from the state’s Katni district, located more than 300 km away from Prayagraj, to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

A pilgrim heading to the Kumbh told the BBC that he had been stuck in traffic for 48 hours.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh for the traffic congestion.

“Due to traffic jam everywhere in Prayagraj, neither food grains, vegetables, spices are available nor medicines, petrol-diesel,” Yadav said on social media. “Due to this, the condition of crores of hungry, thirsty, tired and exhausted devotees stuck in Prayagraj and Maha Kumbh premises and on the roads leading to Prayagraj is getting worse every hour. This is a very serious situation.”

In a separate post, he suggested that the traffic problem could be resolved by exempting vehicles from paying tolls.

Meanwhile, the Prayagraj administration announced that the city’s Raj Sangam railway station would remain closed for passengers from 1.30 pm on Sunday till midnight on Friday, ANI reported.

“Regular and special trains are running from the other eight stations falling in the Mahakumbh area, namely Prayagraj Chheoki, Naini, Prayagraj Junction, Subedarganj, Prayag, Phaphamau, Prayagraj Rambagh and Jhusi,” ANI quoted the administration as saying.

The Maha Kumbh Mela began on January 13 and will end on February 26.