Jamshedpur: Shivratri was observed safely at the temple atop Dalma on Tuesday and Wednesday with forest officials heaving a sigh of relief as elephant herds, on the fringes of the local animal sanctuary, stayed away from the route of the pilgrims who numbered over 70,000.

The Dalma range office had deployed manpower for two days from Tuesday inside the 192sq km sanctuary. But barring minor inconveniences of regulating the heavy traffic of vehicles _ pilgrims use bikes, cars, SUVs and trucks _ rangers did not have to deal with any untoward incident.

Two herds of 30 (18 and 12) elephants from Odisha, that were driven out of Seraikela to Patamda in East Singhbhum by mahouts from Bengal five days back, were the cause of worry for forest officials. However, the herds remained confined to the foothills.

Dalma divisional forest officer C.M.P. Sinha said no untoward incident was reported during devotees' trek to the Shiva temple atop the hills. "Devotees faced no problem from the safety point of view. We had deployed foresters and trackers (village youths recruited on daily wage) along the four designated routes of the sanctuary," he added.

Foresters, guards and trackers numbering 20 were deployed with torches along the routes. Four forest vehicles were also pressed into service.

The DFO said they, however, faced inconvenience in regulating the movement of vehicles, around 250, entering from Makulakocha. "The footfall was heavy but we managed to regulate the traffic," Sinha said.

Dalma range officer R.P. Singh said two separate herds of 20 (14 and 6) resident elephants were staying in the core area of the sanctuary while their Odisha counterparts numbering 30 were in the foothills. "The elephants from Odisha are roaming Gerua, Mirjadih, Kusumtal and Kundarukocha villages," he said.

Devotees, who trekked to the temple using one of four routes - Makulakocha, Fadlugora, Bhadodih and TCI godown - from Tuesday afternoon, and descended the following day, also said that they did not face any hassles on the way.

"We faced no problem while trekking to the temple. We took the route from near the TCI godown along NH-33. It was a safe journey," said Subhash Singh, a Sidhgora resident who visited Dalma with his friends.

Some devotees took the downward journey early this morning. "We stayed at the temple overnight and came down today (Thursday). "Things went off well. We returned on Thursday after offering water to the almighty," said Kadma resident Charan Bahadur.