JEYPORE: Over 10,000 devotees from across Koraput and neighbouring districts who thronged Sabar Srikhetra Jagannath temple on new year’s day had a tough time having darshan of the Trinity owing to poor crowd management by the administration.
Sources said devotees had to wait in long unruly queues to have a glimpse of the Trinity due to absence of barricades. The entrance gate of the temple was blocked due to mad rush for the devotees to avail coupons for mahaprasad. Some ailing and elderly persons had to return from the ‘Baisiphacha’.
Traffic was also disrupted near the shrine’s main gate due to haphazard parking of vehicles. Gourav Yadav of Kanker in Chhattisgarh said he had a tough time due to poor crowd management in entering the temple and having darshan of the Trinity. Runa Patnaik of Sunabeda too had to wait for hours in queue along with an ailing relative.
Sources said despite the huge crowd at the temple, only two police personnel were deployed in the shrine to maintain order. Jagannath Temple Management Committee general secretary Jagabandhu Samal said, “We had not anticipated such huge crowd on New year at the temple. The mismanagement was caused by sudden rush of hundreds of devotees at a time to the temple.”