Puri: Considering heavy rush of devotees, Jagannath temple in Puri will remain open throughout night on Sunday.
This was decided at a meeting of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on the day. The meeting was attended by IG of Police (Central) Ashis Singh and Puri SP among others.
Speaking to media after the meeting, Singh said lakhs of devotees will visit the temple to have darshan of sibling deities on the occasion of Kartik Purnima on Monday. The Lords will appear in Sunabesha (golden attire) on the day. Keeping this in view, ‘Pahuda’ (resting time) ritual of the deities will not be performed at night, he added.
“In order to ensure disciplined darshan by the devotees, 30 platoons of police force will be deployed on the temple premises. Besides maintaining law and order, the police will help the devotees to have hassle-free darshan,” he said.
Singh further said as the devotees will throng various water bodies besides the sea for “Boita Bandana” (floating of toy boats) on the occasion, adequate security measures have been taken at those places. Total 65 platoons of police will look after the security of the people across the town, he added.
Besides the police, lifeguards will be deployed on the sea beach to prevent any untoward incident during the celebration. The road from Market Square to Singhadwar has been declared no vehicle zone to facilitate movement of the devotees, he added.
