Crowd on Bali yatra ground in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 14: The district administration here has been forced to change plans for better crowd management on the Bali yatra ground. This came after the historic annual fair saw an attendance of around 12 lakh people yesterday. It was the highest attendance at the event this year.

Though about three to four lakh people use to visit the fair daily on an average, there was an unexpected rush on the ground yesterday, which caused a lot of inconvenience to trader as well as visitors.

“Efforts will be initiated for better crowd management as around 12 lakh people visited the Bali yatra ground on Sunday,” said district collector Girish S.N.

A district administration official said the turnout might go up by another two to three lakhs on the last day of the fair. Keeping that in mind, adequate steps are being taken to create more space on the Bali yatra ground.

Adequate space will be created on the ground by clearing roadside encroachments and restricting the entry of vehicles.

A lot of commercial activities would also be shifted towards Mahanadi riverbed where some more areas were developed for this year’s Bali yatra, added the official.

The unprecedented rush had also created problems for the traffic officials as all roads leading to the Bali yatra ground were congested. Commuters as well as visitors to the event faced a lot of difficulties as traffic moved at snail’s pace at Ranihat, Jobra, Buxi Bazar and Ring Road.

“Unexpected rush and Kartikeshwar Bhasani Utsav obstructed traffic flow in the city yesterday. However, efforts were immediately initiated to regulate the rush and monitoring was done to check the traffic flow in Sikharpur and Ring Road areas,” said a senior traffic official.

A city police official said about 35 officers and 100 constables had been deployed to regulate the traffic in areas surrounding the Bali yatra ground.