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Devotees jostle for space at Baidyanath Dham, Deoghar, on the first Monday of the holy month of Shravan. Telegraph picture
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Deoghar, July 9: Religious sentiment won over administrative whip as around 5,000 dak kanwariyas from Bihar landed up among 1.25 lakh pilgrims for the first Monday darshan at Baidyanath Dham today, contrary to a prior agreement between DCs of Bhagalpur and Deoghar.
Deoghar officials were in a fix as tempers ran high among exhausted dak kanwariyas — pilgrims who ran over 100km non-stop with gangajal from Sultanganj in Bhagalpur to Deoghar in Jharkhand — who were forced to wait with normal pilgrims without special darshan privileges. Over 1.25 lakh pilgrims offered puja at the Baidyanath Dham, with the queue of kanwariyas stretching for 4km till Barmasia.
“After running over 100km, I waited for seven hours outside Baidyanath Dham. I almost fainted,” dak kanwariya Baidyanath Sharma fumed.
It was to prevent incidents like this that the DCs of Deoghar and Bhagalpur, Rahul Purvar and Prem Singh Meena, had agreed on June 20 to not issue entry passes to dak kanwariyas on weekends.
The logic was that if dak kanwariyas reached Deoghar on Mondays, when the count of ordinary pilgrims surpasses a lakh, the administration would not be able to arrange direct darshan. Sources said the Bhagalpur DC had admitted it was not possible for him to enforce regulated entry of dak kanwariyas at the cost of religious sentiment.
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