Heavy crowd in Puri even today. Devotees are anxious to catch a glimpse of the Lord. For the past few days, there has been a huge crowd in Puri for the darshan of Srijiu. Even today, devotees are standing in long queues to enter the temple. The crowd that started on December 31 continues till today.
As more than 5 lakh devotees came to Puri yesterday, arrangements were made at Nitikanti and Darshan continued till late night. Due to overcrowding during the day, there was a stampede. Devotees jumped the barricade and stormed inside the temple, forcing the police to bring the situation under control.
Devotees from far and wide flock to Puri for the New Year. Thousands of people are returning from Puri after their darshan. As a result, the Puri-bound lanes and the returning lanes from Puri are stopped at the Pipili toll gate, making the situation impossible. Even though the tollgate had Fastag facility, it was stuck for hours due to the large number of vehicles.
Pipili police arrived on the news of such a situation last night and brought the situation under control and normalized the traffic.