Puri: The Puri district administration has made elaborate arrangements for smooth and incident-free ‘Radha Pada Darshan’ by devotees at the Sakshigopal Temple in Sakshigopal on the occasion of ‘Anla Navami’ tomorrow.
For the last two years, devotees were barred from having ‘Radha Pada Darshan’ due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At Sakshigopal temple Goddess Radha is dressed up (decorated) in true Odiyani Besha with her lotus feet visible so that devotees can have a darshan of her feet.
Anla Navami is the only occasion in a calendar year when devotees can have darshan of the feet of Goddess Radha. On this day, Lord Krishna is dressed in Natabar besha.
It is believed that Radha Pada Darshan leads to moksha (salvation). Therefore, lakhs of devotees from all over Odisha gather at Sakshigopal for the unique darshan.
Barricades have been put up for devotees to maintain queues for having darshan, special emphasis has been laid on the provision of drinking water and parking facilities.
“We have put in place a completely devotee-oriented arrangement. As devotees are expected to arrive in large numbers we will be deploying 20 platoons of policemen for their convenience and smooth darshan. Two Additional SPs will be camping here round-the-clock. 50 more police officers will be deployed. Separate arrangements have been made for both inside and outside the temple,” informed Dr Kanwar Vishal Singh, SP Puri speaking to reporters at Sakshigopal.
Separate arrangements have been made for the Mela ground while special arrangements have been made for traffic and for contingency ambulance arrangement has been made, Dr Singh added.
He informed that the local Tahasildar, BDO, and Fire Officer have been briefed while they are liaisoning with sevayats (servitors of the temple).
