Girls sell puja items on the second day of Ambubachi mela at Kamakhya on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections

June 23: Visitors at Ambubachi mela, beware, especially if there is a power cut. Snatchers and pickpockets are roaming freely inside Kamakhya temple to rob you of your valuables.

Temple authorities were flooded with complaints of snatchings from devotees on Day II of the mela and took help of the public address system to warn visitors of lurking snatchers and pickpockets.

“We have erected public address systems at several places and are making regular announcements to be careful about pickpockets and snatchers,” the secretary of Kamakhya Debutter Board, Nabakanta Sarma, said.

Sarma said though such announcements were made during Ambubachi melas but it was restricted within the temple premises. “This time we have installed loudspeakers in the car parking areas also,” he said.

The secretary said the temple committee has been receiving complaints from devotees about missing items and hence it was decided that announcements should be made so that the devotees remain cautions.

Concern over the development, Assam police have deputed security personnel in plain clothes to catch these unwanted elements who “could bring a bad name” for Assam. Devotees from all over the country, including abroad, throng the Kamakhya to participate in the three-day mela, the biggest religious gathering of Hindus in eastern India. The mela will end on June 25.

“We have deputed several persons in plain clothes to keep a check on these bad elements,” a police official said.

Yesterday, a youth from Mangaldoi was apprehended while trying to snatch a purse from a devotee.

Not only pickpockets, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation also upset things by failing to supply running water.

“We were promised that 24-hour running water would be available for the devotees during the mela days but water flow has gone down since afternoon. The devotees are facing problem because of this,” Sarma said.

Moreover, the Assam State Electricity Board added to the misery of the devotees last evening when power supply was disrupted for over an hour around 8.30pm.

“The temple was lit up by using the generator but the outside was in total darkness. It was during this time when several devotees fell victims to pickpockets and snatchers,” the police official said.

Like the first day, more than two lakh devotees visited the temple on the second day of the mela. The temple doors were closed to devotees at 5.22am yesterday after which the mela formally began. The temple will witness largest congregation of visitors on Wednesday, when the temple doors would reopen.

“We are expecting nearly 15 lakh visitors this year during the mela days,” Sarma said. Last year, about 12 lakh visitors, including devotees from countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, also attended the mela, he said.