CUTTACK: A vacation bench of Orissa High Court has directed the district administration of Puri to ensure crowd management and make arrangements for a smooth darshan of deity at the 12th-century Alarnath temple in Brahmagiri.
The bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice MS Raman issued the direction on Tuesday on a PIL filed by Madhusudan Pujapanda. The petitioner had sought special measures at Alarnath temple during the fortnight-long ‘Anavasara’ at Shri Jagannath Temple when Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath are kept in isolation away from public view.
Lord Vishnu is worshipped as Lord Alarnath at the temple. It is believed Lord Jagannath manifests as Alarnath Dev at the temple in Brahmagiri during the 15-day ‘Anavasara’ after the ‘Snana Yatra’ (bathing festival) at Srimandir. Hence, devotees throng the Alarnath temple in thousands during the fortnight.
“For proper crowd management, arrangement of darshan from argali (space connected to narrow strip to sanctum sanctorum(garbhagriha) of Alarnath Temple, there is need for providing facilities and maintaining law and order for the huge number of devotees gathering during this fortnight”, the petition stated seeking the court’s intervention.
Acting on it, the vacation bench directed the authorities to file an affidavit by Thursday indicating steps taken by the Puri district administration for crowd management and arrangement for smooth darshan of the deity during the fortnight which commenced on June 5.
The affidavit shall also indicate the provisions made for safe and smooth entry into and exit from the temple, so also the regulatory measure taken by the temple administration/committee and also by the Puri district administration.