CURATED BY – DHEERAJ KUMAR AHIRWAL | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Damoh, A meeting was held today in the presence of Damoh MP Rahul Singh Lodhi regarding better arrangements between the temple committee and district officials regarding Shivratri at Bandakpur Jageshwarnath. Collector Sudhir Kumar Kochar, Superintendent of Police Shrutkirti Somvanshi, members of the temple committee and officials of various departments were present on this occasion.
MP Rahul Singh said in the meeting that this time devotees from Prayagraj will also come here to offer water after taking a bath, so the number of devotees will be very high, arrangements should be in place for that, arrangements for water, electricity should be ensured, there should be no loss of any kind, all these things have been discussed in the meeting today. On February 26, the number of devotees on the Shivratri festival will also be very high, in view of that, preparations are being made to make all the arrangements proper here.
He said that it has been decided that just like when people go to visit Mahakal Baba in Ujjain, on the festival of Shivratri and Basant Panchami, the crowd becomes too much due to which they are not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. This time an effort is being made to install a steel pipe outside and offer water through the pipe. He has requested all the devotees not to go to the sanctum sanctorum when there is a large crowd, water should be offered from outside the sanctum sanctorum only. This arrangement is being implemented for one day. In this, the officials, the temple committee, everyone has decided that this arrangement will be implemented for one day. He said that everyone should cooperate in this, everyone is a devotee of Mahadev, everyone believes in Mahadev, this decision has been taken for the best possible way, it is expected from everyone that they will go with this decision and everyone will offer water from outside.

Collector Sudhir Kumar Kochar said that the festival of Mahashivratri will be celebrated in Bandakpur on 26 February. Lakhs of devotees from all over the country come here. Kumbh Mela is also going on right now, a large number of devotees returning from Prayagraj Kumbh Mela are expected to come to Bandakpur, in this view the arrangements will be even better than before. A meeting has been organized today for this purpose, everyone also got guidance from the MP in the meeting. Members of the temple committee, Superintendent of Police, all District Magistrates were present in this meeting. Many important decisions were taken in the meeting, many suggestions came, on the basis of all these, necessary instructions have been given to the officers. He said that the temple premises have also been visited, the arrangements have been reviewed and in the coming days, we will ensure that they are followed at the ground level.

He said that if we want to allow the disabled to have darshan in an orderly manner, then only one person should be with them as an attendant, if there are more people with them then the committee also has to maintain discipline, problems arise in the arrangements and then everyone else also wants to use the rule which the disabled are following. From this point of view, a decision will be taken after full consideration.

Superintendent of Police Shrutkirti Somvanshi said that a meeting was held in Bandakpur temple premises under the guidance of MP. All kinds of suggestions were discussed keeping in mind the shortcomings in the arrangements made in Bandakpur in the past, what kind of facilities are needed where.

He said that very important discussions were held in the temple premises to make the movement of people and darshan easy. This time the force will be increased here, normally a force of 250 to 300 is deployed here, this time around 400 force will be deployed. He said that arrangements for armed forces will also be made, separate control rooms, separate radio sets will be installed, CCTV cameras are being installed, overall this arrangement will be made on a large scale, whatever efforts the administration has to make so that the devotees can have darshan properly will be done.