First sunrise draws massive crowd on sea beaches

Bhubaneswar/Berhampur/Konark: To welcome the new year in a special way, revellers from across the State and outside today thronged Chandrabhaga and Puri in large numbers.

Mostly people gathered at the sea beaches from early hours to witness the first sunrise of 2018.

Apart from this, devotees visited the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri to seek blessing of deities on the year's first day. The temple was open from 2 am in the midnight to facilitate devotees queuing up for darshan.

Some others preferred to go to Chandipur sea beach in Balasore and Gopalpur in Ganjam despite intense cold wave conditions.

"We are enjoying the New Year most at the Chandipur sea beach because of the uniqueness of the place," said a tourist from West Bengal.

Soumendra Priyadarshi, Inspector General of Police (central Range), said, "Elaborate arrangements have been made outside the Puri Srimandir for peaceful darshan of visitors. Besides, we have ensured common visitors don't get troubled when VVIPs visit the temple."