Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday said that it will be forced to stop devotees from lighting lamps inside Lingaraj Temple here if their number swells by evening.
Briefing the media, BMC additional commissioner Abanikant Patnaik said that devotees are allowed to light earthen lamps inside the temple premises in the evening with strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. However, this will be stopped if there is a large congregation of devotees. “We will review the situation in the evening and take a call if more devotees throng the temple,” he added.
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Talking about the arrangement for the smooth darshan of the Lord, he said that the devotees are moving in a single barricaded queue. “As one-way entry has been put in place, there is no extra rush inside the temple,” he pointed out.
Elderly people and children are, however, not allowed to enter the shrine, he added.
The Mahadeep of Lord Lingaraj will be raised atop the temple at 10 pm.
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To ensure smooth management of the crowd outside the temple, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said that 34 platoons of force with more than 100 officers in the rank of additional DCP and ACP have been deployed.
