Gaya, Dec. 8: The Bodhgaya nagar panchayat is installing close circuit television cameras (CCTV) across Bodhgaya in preparation for the 35th Kalachakra puja beginning on January 3, 2017.

The special security arrangements are being made since the Dalai Lama, who will lead the Kalachakra puja, is scheduled to reach Bodhgaya on December 28. He will leave Bodhgaya only on January 14, after the festivities come to an end.

The Bodhgaya nagar panchayat will become the first civic body in Bihar to cover most of its commercial areas with CCTV, as the Kalachakra organising committee and district administration are concerned about the Dalai Lama's security. Bodhgaya nagar panchayat chairperson Priti Singh said: "We plan to install 60 CCTVs across the township. Around 40 have been installed till today."

The Nagar panchayat wrote to the state urban development and housing department to make Rs 40 lakh available to them for the installation process, added Priti. Apart from security, the focus of the civic body will include cleanliness and traffic arrangements.

According to the plans for hygiene in the township during the festivities, the nagar panchayat will also make mobile urinals and toilets available around the Kalachakra ground. "We will also place an adequate number of dustbins to maintain cleanliness. We appeal to people to cooperate with us, and not use plastic which is banned in Bodhgaya," said Priti.

The district administration are also making the necessary arrangements for the four lakh devotees coming to Bodhgaya to participate in the puja. Magadh division commissioner Lian Kunga and the district magistrate-cum-chairman of Bodhgaya temple management committee, Kumar Ravi, are regularly reviewing preparations made by 14 different committees such as accommodation, parking and transportation, security, water supply and sanitation.

The campus of Magadh University, a few colleges and government schools have been assigned for accommodation purposes. The Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation is also preparing 500 Swiss cottages on vacant agriculture land. The Bodhgaya nagar panchayat has also issued a directive to residents of Bodhgaya, willing to provide rooms on rent in their homes to the devotes, to furnish information regarding the number and types of rooms, sanitation, water supply and other facilities available by December 15.