Puri: Anticipating a sharp rise in pilgrim footfall during the month of Kartika, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has announced restrictions on the entry of devotees to the 12th-century shrine in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri.
From October 18, coinciding with the beginning of Karthik month, devotees will be allowed to enter the shrine only through Singhadwara (Lion’s Gate) and Western gate or Vyaghradwara. The other three three gates, except for the Singhadwara, can be used by devotees to step out of the shrine, Chief administrator of SJTA, Arabinda Padhee posted on X.
The restriction won’t apply to the temple servitors and their family members.
Urging all to adhere to these rules, Padhee said that this is being done to ensure hassle-free darshan for a large number of devotees and make it well-planned for those fasting. “I believe everyone will accept the decision and cooperate,” he added.
At present, the devotees enter the temple through all four gates of the shrine.
Notably, all four gates of the shrine were opened for devotees on June 13, a day after Odisha’s new BJP Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi took oath. Prior to this, only the Lion’s Gate, which was the main entrance on the east side of the temple, was kept open for entry and exit of devotees while the Tiger, Horse and Elephant gates situated on the west, south and northern sides of the shrine, had remained closed since March 2020.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot to bring Puri town under CCTV surveillance. A portable network with optical fibre systems and 620 CCTV cameras will be installed at various locations of the town, including entry points including Athurnalla, Mangalaghat and Balighat, Badadanda, Gundicha temple, Srimandir, the sea beach area and almost all lanes of the town. The cameras will be monitored from a command and control room, said collector Siddharth Shankar Swain on Wednesday.