The entrance of the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 18: Elaborate security arrangements will be in place around Lingaraj temple for the Shivratri scheduled on Monday.

Around 20 to 25 platoons of police would be deployed around the temple as about five lakh devotees were expected to gather there on the occasion, said police commissioner B.K. Sharma.

While deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjeet Singh will be in charge of security arrangements, two additional DCPs and 10 assistant commissioners of police will assist him. Thirteen inspectors, 55 sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, along with several platoons of police, will be deployed to maintain law and order during Shivratri, the capital city’s biggest festival.

Cops will try to ensure that no incidents of pickpocket, snatch or eve-teasing take place during the event. But, their main role will be crowd control at strategic points and managing traffic on the roads leading to the temple.

Barricades have already been put up on the temple premises to streamline the entry of pilgrims for darshan (auspicious viewing) of the deity in the temple. The police have also earmarked several spaces in and around the area for parking of vehicles.

Chief executive of the temple’s administration Abani Pattnaik said they, along with sevayats, had finalised the timetable of the rituals to be performed.

“The temple will open at 3am and the first aalati will be held at 3.30am. The temple will remain open from 4am to 11am for the devotees for darshan, which is called Shahanmela. Rituals will be performed till 3pm. The mahadeep will be taken to the top of the temple between 9.30pm and 10pm. We have prepared this timetable so that the festival is conducted smoothly,” said Pattnaik.

On February 14, the temple’s rituals had been delayed by nearly nine hours because of non-cooperation by the pujapanda nijogs. Things came to such a pass that the temple administration had to bring the rajguru from the Jagannath temple in Puri to resolve the deadlock.

This time, however, all the priests promised to cooperate in the interest of temple and the devotees.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation plans to provide mobile toilets and drinking water for the devotees, besides undertaking sanitation work around the temple while the Archaeological Survey of India will take up cleanliness activities inside the temple.

“We will extend every kind of cooperation for smooth conduct of the festival,” said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.