Bhubaneswar, July 17: The stage is set for the century's first Nabakalebar in Puri with the state government pulling out all stops to make the grand event successful.

With less than 24 hours left for the event, security around the 3-km Grand Road and other places in the holy town was tightened. An administration official said the expected turnout was around 30 lakh.

Hundreds of pilgrims from various parts of the state and Bihar and Bengal have already occupied some of the 33 temporary shelters, aptly named Nabakalebar Gram, that are set up to ensure a comfortable stay for the visitors.

Director-general of police Sanjeev Marik was in Puri today to supervise the security and traffic control arrangements. "We have taken foolproof measures for security and crowd management. We expect people to co-operate with us," said Marik.

With the 12th century Jagannath temple considered as a soft terrorist target, the government has deployed an unprecedented 164 platoons of police in Puri. While the Coast Guard have been asked to maintain round-the-clock vigil on the Puri coast to ward off possible attacks, special tourist police force has been deployed to help visitors.

The ritual of naba jauban darshan (seeing the new idols) was held inside the shrine in a restricted manner, according to the high court's prier with only the concerned priests and daitapatis allowed a glimpse. The three chariots, suitably decorated for the mega event, were also placed outside the main entrance of the temple today.

The timing for the rituals such as pahandi bije (ceremonial procession of the deities) and the pulling of chariot ropes were also decided today by the temple administration with the servitors' consent.

This being the first Nabalakalaebar of the country, the government is taking no chances, more so because the process of Brahma paribartan (soul transfer) had earlier sparked a controversy.

Apart from the deployment of the rapid action force and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), steps have also been taken for intelligence gathering. Special anti-terrorist squads, bomb disposal squads and trained dogs have taken positions in the strategic areas around the town. Besides, around 200 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have also been installed to keep a close watch on the crowd.<>"We are doing everything possible to ensure that nothing goes wrong again," said a senior temple official.