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Puri: The district administration of Puri will impose Section-144 in several parts of the city for the Nagarjuna Besha of the Lord Jagannath in Srimandir scheduled to commence from 2 am on Friday. The prohibitory order will continue to remain in force till Besha Olagi, the completion of the rituals.
As per statement issued by the district and the Srimandir administration, the restrictions will be clamped on the stretch from Marichikot square in the city till the Singhadwar of Srimandir and around the temple.
This will effectively bar the devotees from the darshan of Patitapaban, the representative deity of the Lord Jagannath placed at the Singhadwar of the 12th century shrine. People will be allowed to view the Patitapabana only after the conclusion of attire rituals.
Extensive security arrangements have been made for the special occasion with deployment of 25 platoons of police force. To monitor the arrangements, 2 ASPs, 7 DSPs, 19 SIs and 77 ASIs have also been positioned in the pilgrim town. They will guard the Nagabesha (Naga Attire) which will be brought from Harachandi Sahi to the Srimandir in the night.
As per the earlier announcement made by the Srimandir Temple Administration (STA), the rare attire of the Trinity (Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra), which was last observed in 1994, will be conducted this year without the participation of devotees.
The district administration had earlier urged the outstation devotees not to enter the town on the occasion of Nagarjuna Besha.
The authorities will, however, allow entry of only duty-bound servitors and officials into the shrine for the smooth conduct of the rituals. Even devotees in Puri will not be allowed to witness the rare avatar wherein the deities will don the costume of the Naga warriors.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)
