Puri: Puri was placed under an unprecedented security blanket Wednesday as thousands of people thronged the pilgrim town to celebrate the New Year and seek the blessings of Lord Jagannath.
Anticipating the arrival of over 3.5 lakh people Wednesday night and Thursday, the administration has deployed around 70 platoons (2,100 personnel), installed over 300 CCTV cameras and engaged around 300 lifeguards on the beach to make the New Year’s celebrations safe, Puri SP Prateek Singh said.
“The administration is taking no chances as major irregularities occurred during this year’s Rath Yatra,” said district official said adding that extensive arrangements are made as many devotees desire to start the new year with darshan of the trinity- Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
“The administration is taking no chances this time, especially in view of the irregularities witnessed during this year’s Rath Yatra,” a district official said, adding that extensive arrangements were made as many devotees wished to begin the New Year with the darshan of the trinity – Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Arabinda Padhee said the temple gates would open for devotees from 2 am Thursday.
As large numbers of devotees queue up for darshan, Padhee said the temple doors would remain closed from 11 pm to 2 am for religious rituals.
Puri district collector Dibya Jyoti Parida has cancelled the leaves of all government employees in the temple town till January 4 and urged them to help the administration in managing the crowd and traffic.
Police personnel have been deployed both inside and outside the temple, and the entire shrine has been brought under CCTV surveillance.
A total of 344 cameras have been installed in and around the temple premises, an official said.
SP Singh said 152 cameras were installed inside the temple, while 192 were placed outside to monitor crowd movement and traffic.
This apart, Odisha Fire Service has also engaged additional life guards on the beach as a large number of people take bath in the sea as part of New Year celebrations.
PTI