Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has ensured that devotees can have darshan of Lord Jagannath and his sibling deities all through the night on the eve of the Kartika Purnima on Sunday. A decision in this regard has been taken after deliberations with the temple servitors and keeping in view of the huge gathering of devotees at the Srimandir during Kartik Purnima, Chief Administrator Ranjan Kumar Das told the media today.
On the occasion of Kartika Purnima on Monday, the deities will adorn the Rajarajeswari Besha, or golden attire. On the occasion of ‘Panchuka Chaturdashi Tithi’ or ‘Baikuntha Chaturdashi on Sunday, Lord Jagannath has been adorned with Laxmi Nrusingha Besha.
Chief Administrator Das said that elaborate security arrangements and traffic management have been made for the smooth darshan of the deities in the special attire.
Security beefed up in Puri
Ten platoons of police force are being deployed for crowd control on the occasion, while separate traffic arrangements have been made to regulate the movement of vehicles, according to Puri Superintendent of Police Kanwar Vishal Singh. Apart from police personnel, more lifeguards will be deployed on the beach to prevent any untoward incident. Special patrolling has been arranged at the beach side too.
The police are expecting nearly 3 lakh devotees at Puri Srimandir on the occasion of Kartika Purnima. “Last year it was 1.74 lakh and we expect the number of devotees to be double that,” Singh said.
Special arrangements for traffic management will be made on roads leading to Puri town from Bhubaneswar, Konark, and Brahmagiri.
