Dialogue Associate, Jagran, Vrindavan. Without worrying about the biting cold and blanket of fog, devotees from different provinces of the country reached Thakur Banke Bihari on Sunday. Since Sunday morning, crowd pressure was visible on the roads leading to the temple. The police started stopping the devotees by putting up barriers.
Due to the devotees being stopped at the barrier, the pressure of the crowd started increasing and the condition of women, children and elderly started deteriorating. The shopkeepers made the elderly devotees sit at their shops to provide relief. As soon as the relief was received, the elders started helping the devotees move forward.
Crowd pressure continues in the streets inside and outside the temple
Crowd of devotees reached Thakur Banke Bihari temple on Sunday morning for darshan. Crowd pressure was visible from the entry point of the temple, Vidyapeeth, Jugalghat to the temple platform. The halt of devotees in the temple courtyard to offer garlands and offerings was spoiling the system. There was a standstill with an atmosphere of chaos among the devotees in the race to offer rosary prasad. Had there been less crowd in the temple courtyard, devotees would have been able to enter the temple from outside. In such a situation, the devotees were forced to stand in the market and streets under the pressure of the crowd outside the temple for hours.
Police took care of the arrangements, but the situation could not improve.
This sequence, which started in the morning, continued till the doors of the temple closed after Rajbhog Aarti in the afternoon. When the doors of the temple were closed for 20 minutes at the time of Rajbhog, the condition of the devotees was worsening. The crowd of devotees was continuously increasing from behind. When the doors of the temple were closed in the afternoon, thousands of devotees were deprived of darshan. These devotees kept camping around the temple. Had darshan of the deity when the doors of the temple opened in the evening.
The number of devotees will increase till the beginning of the new year
Devotees have started camping in Vrindavan, planning to welcome the last days of the year and the new year with the darshan of Thakurji Banke Bihari. The number of devotees is now expected to increase continuously. In such a situation, the police and administration may have to face a tough challenge to control the crowd of devotees and maintain the traffic system not only in the temple but also in the city.
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