BBC News Online: World: South Asia

Photo ban at India festival

While some pilgrims appeared to enjoy the attention, others complained. Photographers will now have to stay at least 500 metres from the waters' edge.

"We will physically stop them. They were taking photos of people while they were bathing, especially ladies," the official in charge of the event, the Mela Commissioner, told Reuters news agency.

"These are very simple people. They do not understand the complexity and extent of journalists' work."

Five-star tents - a source of resentment among many devotees - will remain in use for the time being after India's Supreme Court granted a stay against a local official's order in Allahabad that they be removed because of fears over law and order.

Authorities in Uttar Pradesh said those staying at the tented accommodation included a crew who filmed women bathing in the sacred waters, the Times of India reported.

An international tour operator which had set up the 74 luxury tents complained the authorities gave insufficient notice and denied them an opportunity to make their case before the order cancelling their permission was made.

The festival, which takes place every 12 years, is expected to draw some 70 million devotees before it ends next month.