Devotees to be allowed into Puri's Jagannath temple via all 4 gates from Saturday

Puri, Nov 15 (PTI) Authorities of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri will allow devotees to enter the 12th-century shrine through all its four gates from Saturday, officials said.

In view of the rush of devotees during the Kartik month, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) allowed their entry only through the Singhadwar (east gate).

During the Kartik month, the entry of devotees through three other gates of the temple was restricted for crowd management, the officials said.

"With the end of Kartik month on Friday, the restrictions were withdrawn. Now, devotees can enter the temple through all four gates from Saturday as the number of footfalls is likely to decrease after the completion of the Kartik month," an official said.

The SJTA introduced the crowd control measure for the Kartika rituals on October 18.

From Saturday, the devotees can enter the temple through all the gates, but cannot return via the Lion’s Gate (east), another official said.

They can exit from the temple through three other gates, SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said in a statement.

These rules will not be applicable to servitors as well as the employees of the temple.

Padhee also thanked all the stakeholders, including devotees, for the smooth functioning of rituals and ‘darshan’ of the sibling deities- Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath- during the holy month. PTI