Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Monday claimed that his government did not allow the stampede at the Maha Kumbh site in Prayagraj on January 29 to be highlighted “as it could have caused panic” among crores of pilgrims present on that day, The Indian Express reported.

Adityanath claimed that the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government acted swiftly to control the situation and ensure medical aid, PTI reported.

He made the remarks while addressing Indian Institute of Management and Indian Postal Service officials at an event on “Nation Building through the Successful Organisation of Mahakumbh”.

At least 30 persons were killed and 60 others were injured in the stampede that broke out between 1 am and 2 am on January 29 at Maha Kumbh as a large number of pilgrims arrived to take a holy bath on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, a spiritually significant day in the Hindu calendar.

“The crowd is like water current in a river,” The Indian Express quoted the chief minister as saying on Monday. “Whenever an attempt is made to stop the current, it will either force its way out or spread and cause damage. This [stampede] happened that night when there was a huge gathering present at the site and everyone wanted to take the holy bath at 4 am.”

The BJP leader added that the crowd increased and the incident occurred between 1 am and 1.30 am because Mauni Amavasya started at 7.30 pm on January 28.

“We did not allow the incident to be excessively highlighted as eight crore devotees and sadhus [ascetics] were present in Prayagraj and the Kumbh Mela area at the time, and panic could have worsened the situation,” PTI quoted him as saying.

Adityanath noted that seers from 13 akharas were also scheduled to take a holy bath that morning.

Akharas are monastic institutions that house seers who follow specific spiritual traditions.

“The bath of Akharas is always a challenge as there used to be violence over who would take the dip first,” he claimed. “The bath had to begin at 4 am, and despite the stampede all the Akharas were ready. But at 3 am, I requested them to postpone their bath because an incident had occurred.”

The chief minister also rejected reports that high levels of bacteria commonly found in excreta were found in the river water in which the pilgrims were taking their holy dip during the Maha Kumbh, The Indian Express reported.

On February 3, the Central Pollution Control Board told the National Green Tribunal that river water quality at the Maha Kumbh pilgrimage site was not suitable for bathing due to high levels of faecal coliform.

Faecal coliform bacteria are microbes that typically live in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, including humans, and are found in their excreta.

“The then Prime Minister of Mauritius had refused to take a dip in the Ganga during the 2013 Kumbh after seeing the filth in the river,” The Indian Express quoted Adityanath as saying on Monday. “We had that in mind from the very first day and had decided that no sewer or nullah leaks into Ganga or Yamuna.”

The most critical point of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh is in Kanpur, Adityanath said. “Over 4 crore litres of sewage water used to flow into Ganga everyday at Sisamau point for 125 years. “We resolved this three years ago, he added.

Calling reports of water contamination “fake”, the chief minister said that both government and private labs had conducted investigations.

“We took samples of water regularly between January 11 and February 26 and, whenever it was taken, the measure of BOD [biochemical oxygen demand] at Sangam was found below 3,” he claimed. “The dissolved oxygen at Sangam was above 10 always.”

Sangam is the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

Biochemical oxygen demand refers to the amount of oxygen that micro-organisms use to decompose organic matter in water. Dissolved oxygen means the amount of oxygen present in water or any other liquid.

A low figure of biochemical oxygen demand and a high level of dissolved oxygen generally indicate purer water.

He added that the claims in the media about the pollution were based on the Central Pollution Control Board reports, according to The Indian Express.

“It is possible that their samples were taken from points where animal faeces contaminated the water or at a point where the river water was already contaminated,” the BJP leader said. “Whenever we took samples from Sangam between January 11 and February 13, the measure of faecal coliform was up to 100 while the permissible limit is 25,000.”

He added: “The measure of faecal coliform in samples taken from few other points away from Sangam was around 1,200-1,300 probably because buffaloes are taken to those points and their faeces increased the measure of faecal coliform.”

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