Bhubaneswar: The temporary road connecting Dhabaleswar temple at Athagarh in Odisha’s Cuttack district has been washed away due to heavy inflow of water into the Mahanadi, sources said on Friday.
Following the damage, the temple, located on an island of Mahanadi river, is now inaccessible for devotees, who either took a boat or the suspension bridge, which is closed for repair work after detection of cracks by an expert team since November last year.
A day after more than 130 people died when a suspension bridge collapsed in Gujarat, the Cuttack administration temporarily shut the bridge, connecting the city to the shrine, and clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC around it. Virtual darshan was organised during those two months after which devotees were allowed to visit the shrine through the temporary road constructed by the administration in January this year.
A fair weather bridge for pedestrian use over the shallow water area of the river near the bank to facilitate public ‘darshan’ of Lord Dhabaleswar is also in the offing.
