The dak bum kanwariyas in Sultanganj on Sunday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Pilgrims carrying Gangajal from Sultanganj to Baidyanath Dham in Jharkhand seem unhappy about the new time slot system and curbs on entry to the sanctum sanctorum introduced at the shrine.

Durga Nandan Das, a pilgrim from North 24 Parganas in Bengal, said his cousin, Sumit Das, and his family members, who came to Sultanganj on July 23 and reached Deoghar on July 26 saw a chaotic situation at the shrine. “He called me up to say that he had narrowly escaped unhurt after police lathicharged the pilgrims,” Das said. According to Das, Sumit and his family members were disappointed at not being allowed to touch the kamana lingam of the deity there.

Sunita Devi (43), a homemaker from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh who came to Sultanganj on Sunday morning, was quite nervous. Though she has been coming to Sultanganj for the past five years, she was worried. “We heard of the failure of the recently introduced system at Deoghar. It has made us all worried,” she said.

Krishna Bum, a veteran dak bum (marathon runner who completes 105km from Sultanganj to Deoghar in 24 hours after taking Gangajal in Sultanganj) said: “I came to know that no pilgrim is allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum and are only allowed to perform puja by arghya system. It’s an insult to pilgrims, not to allow them to have a sparsh (touch) of the kamana lingam of Lord Baidyanath. which earlier was the common practice.”

“Sparsh is vital because without it no monoskamana (desire) could be fulfilled. Since it had long been the practice at Deoghar. If one is not allowed even to have a darshan of the kamana lingam (wishing part) of Lord Baidyanath, his/her entire struggle to cover the 105-km barefoot journey would be ruined,” said Krishna.

Badri Yadav (29) from Purnea, who went to Deoghar as a dak bum on July 24, said: “What the hell they (the government officials at Deoghar) are doing? They prevented us from completing our religious obligations to Lord Baidyanath. Since I din’t get the opportunity to touch the deity there, my puja remained incomplete, which was upsetting.”

District magistrate Prem Singh Meena was not available for comments but a senior administrative official pass the buck on his counterparts at Deoghar. “What can we do here? The system was implemented mainly to avoid odd situations during the heavy rush at the temple. But we cannot control the pilgrims’ sentiments.”