The footfall in Bodhgaya for the ongoing Kalchakra ceremony has touched the two lakh-mark indicating how pilgrims planned a shorter trip to duck the demonetisation effect.

The figure this year has matched the 2012 Kalchakra ceremony headcount though the participation was not very encouraging at the start.

Gaya district magistrate (DM) Kumar Ravi too confirmed that statistics indicated that the footfall had touched the two-lakh mark. Around 80,000 devotees are staying in tents set up across Bodhgaya and nearly 10,000 near the children's park. Moreover, a good number of devotees are staying in private residences, hotels, guesthouses and monasteries. According to information from monks at the World Heritage Mahabodhi Mahavihara, the footfall at the shrine has also increased.

On January 4, the DM had said around one lakh devotees had already arrived in Bodhgaya. Asked how the footfall almost doubled in only five days, the DM said: "The fact is that the main Kalchakra rituals began from today. Therefore, devotees have made a compact programme.

"There is also an impact of Prakash Utsav that just concluded in Patna. Several families, which came to Patna to attend the Prakash Utsav (350th birth anniversary of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh) celebrations, also proceeded to Bodhgaya," the DM said.

To substantiate the figures further, the DM said more than 23,000 devotees had already been provided treatment at health centres in Bodhgaya.

"On an average, around 2,000 devotees get treatment in the health camps every day," he said.

The DM, however, denied that the footfall was low in the beginning because of demonetisation.

"Around Rs 50 crore has been arranged for banks and ATMs in Bodhgaya. There is no shortage of currency, including the new Rs 500 denomination notes. All the ATMs are filled with cash at regular intervals," he said.

Karma Gelek, the Kalchakra organising committee president, and committee vice-president Wangchuk too claimed that around two lakh devotees from 92 different countries had arrived in Bodhgaya to take part in the ceremony.

Regarding low footfall in the beginning, one of the organising committee members said: "The devotees curtailed the duration of their trip to Bodhgaya to a maximum of four to five days because of cash complications in the country."

"So most of those devotees preferred to arrive in Bodhgaya to take part in the main Kalchakra initiation ceremony that began today (Tuesday) and to seek blessings of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama till January 14."