An outer view of Shree Chamunda Devi, near Dharamsala.
Dharamsala, April 11, 2013:There are five popular Shakti peeths in the lower areas of Himachal . Three of them are in Kangra district, they are Sri Bajreshwari Devi at Kangra, Shree Chamunda Devi near Dharamsala and Shree Jawala Ji.
Beside this, Shree Chintpurni in Una district and Shree Naina Devi in Bilaspur districts are the places where lakhs of pilgrimage pay a visit in the 10 days of Devi Chaitra Navratras, considered by Hindus as a holy period, which started on Thursday . It shall would conclude on April 20, the next Saturday.
Kangra Deputy Commissioner C Palrasu said, “Special arrangements are made for the Chaiter Navrtara , where thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit Shakti peeths of Bajreshwari, Jawalamukhi and Chamunda temples everyday”.
He said all arrangements for the security and law and order besides accommodation, health care and sanitation and other facilities for the visiting pilgrims were completed. Palrasu said, “To maintain proper sanitation in the temple towns 300 workers have been put on duty in each town.”
The DC said ban was imposed in the three temple towns under section 144 of the CrPC for carrying fire arms, sharp-edged weapons and explosive material during the Navratras.
“As these Shrines are only connected through roads, the special arrangements are made to carry on the traffic uninterrupted”, said Balbir Thakur SSP Kangra at Dharamsala. He said that enough space has been provided for the parking of the vehicles of the visitors in all the three Shaktipeeths in the district. He said five armed reserves had been deployed in three temples and 300 Home Guards too were deployed to regulate pilgrim traffic and maintain law and order situation. He said the police personnel in civil too had been deployed to keep vigil on the anti-social elements. He said bomb disposal squad had been put on readiness and anti sabotage checking was being done in the three temples with sniffer dog squads pressed into service.
“The police have installed closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the temples to manage the crowd,” said Thakur.
The pilgrims visiting the temples would be frisked and have to pass through metal detectors before entering the temples. Coconut as prasad, would not be allowed to be taken in the temple during Navratras. Likewise, the popular shrines of Naina Devi in Bilaspur district and Chintpurni in Una district is witnessing a huge rush from the day one of the festival.
Arrangements are made that people would be able to have live 'darshan' of Brajeshwari, Jwalaji and Chamunda temples on www.divineindia.com.