Bhubaneswar: The celebrated Dhabaleswar Temple in Atagarh of Cuttack district reopened for the public on Wednesday after remaining out of bounds for devotees from November 1 owing to the hanging bridge repair work.
Authorities have built a temporary hanging bridge over the Mahanadi river for devotees and tourists to visit the temple, which will remain off-limits until the repair work is completed.
Earlier, the administration had planned to reopen the temple during the Makar Sankranti. As the work on the temporary bridge was completed early, the Athagarh sub-collector ordered its reopening ahead of the Makar Sankranti.
According to sources, devotees and tourists can now use the temporary bridge to visit the temple. Meanwhile, repair work on the hanging bridge that was stalled after the horrific bridge tragedy at Morbi in Gujarat, is yet to be completed.
In the wake of the Morbi bridge mishap, an expert team from Kolkata was assigned to undertake a detailed inspection of the hanging bridge connecting the centuries-old Shiva shrine.
Lakhs of devotees visit the Shiva temple and use the hanging bridge during Makar Sankranti every year. However, this year, tourists will not be able to use the hanging bridge.
