Puri: The Odisha Police issued an alert to people about a huge flow of devotees to Puri on Sunday on the occasion of ‘Suna Besha’ (golden attire) of Lord Jagannath and his two sibling deities.
The police informed the devotees about their crowd management and traffic control measures and asked them to plan their visit to the pilgrim town accordingly.
Taking to X, Odisha Police said, Suna Besha Yatra Alert, 7 AM. Due to a large number of devotees arriving in Puri throughout the night to have darshan of Mahaprabhu, the parking spaces in the city are almost fully occupied. Vehicles are being directed towards Talabania and Sterling based on the availability of parking spaces. Waiting times at Batagaon/Malatipatpur may be longer.
Devotees are requested to keep “this information in mind and plan accordingly”, the police said.
There was a “non-stop flow of devotees to Puri on Saturday night as the deities remained on chariots and are open for darshan, a senior officer said.
“There was no ‘Pahuda’ (resting time) for deities on Saturday night and devotees got the opportunity to see them on chariots. Therefore, there was a huge rush,” an official of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said.
Servitors performed all the morning rituals on Sunday, while the sibling deities- Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath- were seated on their respective chariots.
The three chariots – ‘Taladwaj’, ‘Darpadalan’ and ‘Nandighosh’ – are parked in front of the ‘Singha Dwar’ (Lion’s Gate) of the 12th-century shrine after the completion of the deities’ nine-day annual sojourn.
The ‘Bahuda’ Yatra passed off smoothly on Saturday, amid unprecedented security and active cooperation of servitors, and the administration was on its toes to control the crowd for ‘Suna Besha’ rituals, the SJTA official said.
The police have enhanced security, crowd management and traffic control measures for the ‘Suna Besha’ rituals, following the deaths of three devotees in a stampede near the Shree Gundicha Temple on June 29, a senior police official said.
SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee has appealed to all the stakeholders to actively cooperate for the smooth conduct of Lord Jagannath’s ‘Suna Besha’ rituals.
According to the SJTA schedule, devotees can witness the rituals of the deities from 6.30 pm to 11 pm on Sunday.
