Puri: On the New Year day Monday Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik offered prayer at the Sri Jaganath temple and sought the blessings of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra for the development and well being of the people of the state.
Soon after the Chief Minister arrived at the temple gate at about 1130 hours, temple chief administrator PK Jena district magistrate Arabind Agarwal and superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi received him and escorted him into the temple.
After offering prayers to the lord Jagannath and his elder Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra on the ratnasimhasan the Chief Minister took stock of the ongoing repairs to Jagamohan and then went to the Biju Samadhi at Swargdwar and offered floral tributes to his late father Biju Patnaik.
Before leaving Puri, Patnaik inaugurated the Sanskruti Bhavan built at a cost of Rs 2.7 crore.
State Culture minister Ashok Panda and Revenue Dsaster Management minister Maheswar Mohanty were present.
Millions of revelers braving the chilled weather stayed along the beach throughout the night to celebrate the New Year. As soon as zero hour came fire crackers lighted the beach and everyone wished another Happy New Year. They also offered prayers to the rising sun of the New Year. Writers and poets organised midnight congregations at various places on the beach and dedicated their new compositions welcoming the New Year. A number of hotels have organized night long musical programmes.
Over four lakh tourists converged here to celebrate the New Year.
Heavy rush of revelers was noticed in adjoining tourist spots like Chilika lake-Sipakuda, Satpara, Ramchandi, Harchandi and at Chandrabhaga -Konark. The boat owners at Chilika too have increased their hiring fees to a great extent.
A large number of tourists flock to see dolphins in the lake.
The Jagannath temple administration had rescheduled the time for the visitors. While the temple gate was closed at about 2100 hours Sunday it opened at about 0200 hours Monday to accommodate large number of devotees seeking darshan of the deities.
One way entry system through temple main gate barricades was enforced while visitors were allowed to exit through three other gates.
Fifty platoons of police personnel were deployed in and around the city while vehicular traffic was regulated on all the roads leading to Puri. The devotees were frisked and pass metal detector security gates before entering into the temple.
The administration had engaged hundreds of life guards along
the beach line to assist visitors in bathing. No untoward incident was reported so far.
UNI
