PURI: With half a million pilgrims thronging the Shree Jagannath Temple on the first day of the year, chaos descended on the Grand Road as devotees broke security barricades to make entry into the 12th century shrine on Wednesday.
The rush was so intense that devotees from outside the queue barged through the barricades at Singhadwar (Lion’s Gate). While many managed to enter, about six devotees sustained minor injuries. Later, police restored the barricades and the injured were discharged after first aid.
Despite elaborate measures to keep the process in order, controlling the large number of devotees seeking blessings of the three deities was a herculean task as the barricaded line on Bada Danda ran for over a kilometre with thousands packed in the queue. Tired of waiting since the wee hours of the day, pilgrims jumped the barricades and ran helter-skelter as a stampede-like situation ensued.
Devotees who had descended in huge numbers camped at Puri beach on Tuesday. At the stroke of midnight, they burst firecrackers and welcomed the New Year. After taking a dip in the sea, the pilgrims offered prayers to the rising sun and rushed to Srimandir for darshan of the holy Trinity.
As planned, the temple gates were closed by 11 pm on Tuesday and opened after two hours. Priests performed daily chores of the deities.
Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Arabinda Padhee, collector Siddharth Shankar Swain and SP Vinit Agarwal remained present in the temple to look after the arrangements.
The administration had made elaborate arrangements for smooth conduct of the New Year celebration. At least 60 platoons of police including 200 officers were deployed to maintain law and order, particularly to regulate huge vehicular traffic in the pilgrim town.
Scores of lifeguards deployed to prevent drowning in the sea had a tough time due to the massive congregation at the beach. Till the filling of this report, no case of drowning was reported. Though security arrangements for VVIPs were in place, surprisingly no one turned up.