Shortly after hordes of pilgrims rushed to the Sri Jagannath Temple of Puri after all its doors were reopened, the government of Odisha deputed several high-ranking police officials, and additional police forces to oversee the crowd management work there. The newly appointed Chief Minister, Mr. Mohan Majhi, convened a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Jena (1989-batch IAS officer), and DGP, Mr. Arun Kumar Sarangi (1990-batch IPS officer), to learn about the ground situation in Puri.
“The govt is committed to ensuring a hassle-free darshan system and convenience for devotees at the temple. Huge numbers of devotees have turned up since Friday in view of a long holiday till Monday. The situation is under control, and govt has kept a close watch,” said the state’s Law Minister.
DGP Sarangi said that at least 30 platoons of force have been deployed at the temple to regulate the crowd. ADG (law and order) Sanjay Kumar (1996-batch IPS), director (intelligence) Saumendra Priyadarsi (1990-batch IPS officer), and IGP (central range) Sanjay Kaushal (2003-batch IPS officer) are camping in Puri to monitor the crowd control system. “We are ready with our crowd control plans. Adequate personnel have been deployed in and outside the temple to streamline the flow of devotees,” added the DGP.
According to the sources, the daily footfall of pilgrims to the temple has soared to more than two lakhs daily from 50 thousand earlier. The number of pilgrims swelled after the newly appointed BJP government opened up all four doors of the temple, three of which remained shut since 2020.
