The road construction department plans to construct a dedicated corridor for devotees who collect water from Pahlejaghat in Vaishali district and tread 60km on foot to Garibsthan in Muzaffarpur to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva during the month of Shravan.

The department is preparing a detailed project report for this purpose. Thousands of devotees from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Nepal take part in this ritual every year, adversely affecting vehicular movement on NH-77, which connects Hajipur to Muzaffarpur. Pahlejaghat is near Hajipur.

The annual ritual puts extra pressure on the Vaishali and Muzaffarpur district administrations, as officials get busy making special arrangements for smooth passage of devotees. It's not easy for devotees either; fatal road accidents are common.

Muzaffarpur district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar told The Telegraph that possibilities of setting up a dedicated corridor for devotees was under the active consideration of officials concerned and the road construction department was preparing a detailed project report.

He said land adjacent to the existing highway could be used to build the corridor. Praising the idea, Garibsthan temple priest Vinay Pathak said it would be of great help to around a million devotees who visit the temple during Shravan. Road construction department (NH circle) assistant engineer Anjani Kumar said he had travelled from Sultanganj to Deoghar recently to study the plan used there before preparing the DPR.

"There is a separate pathway for devotees there," he said.