Keonjhar: Inspired by the example set by the management of Sarala Shakthi shrine in Jagatsinghpur district, priests of a 600-year-old Hindu temple here have stopped offering puja for two-wheeler owners having no helmets.

Abiding by police instructions, the management of Maa Tarini shrine in Ghatagaon implemented the "no helmet-no puja" policy by refusing puja to two-wheeler owners who had turned up without the safety gear.

The temple, a revered Shakthi shrine, attracts thousands of devotes from Odisha, Jharkhand and Bengal.

It is a strategy by district police to reduce the number of road fatalities involving two-wheeler owners. The police held discussions with the temple managements across the district. "The temple management have consented to abide by the police instruction," said Keonjhar superintendent of police Jay Narayan Pankaj.

"Everyday people with their new motorcycles throng the temple for puja. To inculcate the habit of wearing helmet, police and temple priests sat together and decided that there would be no puja for helmet-less two-wheeler owners," Pankaj said.

"We refused puja to the motorcyclists who visited the shrine without helmets. They came back for puja with the helmets. The priests will strictly follow the rule for the safety of people," said the president of Maa Tarini temple trust committee, Rajendra Kumar Pattnayak.

The "no helmet, no puja" initiative is being followed to curb road accidents as the district has turned into one the worst road-accident-affected pockets of the state. Last year, 350 people died in road accidents here. Incidentally, majority of the victims were motorcyclists.