Kangra set for Shrawan mela

Our Correspondent

Kangra, July 31

Kangra, Chamunda and Jawalamukhi are all set for the Shrawan Ashtmi Mela scheduled to start next month.

The festival will start from August 15 and conclude on August 23. Meanwhile, pilgrims from Punjab and Haryana have started thronging the temple town to pay obeisance at the Bajjreshwari temple since yesterday.

Madhu Chaudhary, SDM, Kangra, yesterday said sanitation, health and security arrangements had been made to carry on the festival smoothly. She said additional 45 sweepers were put on job for maintenance of sanitation and cleanliness within and outside the temple.

She said lakhs of pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan would visit the temple during the Shrawan Ashtami mela.

She said three battalions of male and one battalion of female police personnel, besides 50 Home Guards would be put on duty to maintain the pilgrim traffic and to keep the security tight within and outside the temple. They will be headed by a gazetted officer.

She said police personnel in plain clothes would be deployed in the temple towns and mobile phones, coconuts, prasada and personal bags would not be allowed inside the temple.

“Temporary sulabh toilets will be kept on the bypass road for the first time during the mela this year,” she added. Temple officer Pawan Badial said a free dispensary would be set up in the temple for pilgrims and free langer would also be organised during the mela.