Security beefed up in Puri for ‘Panchuka’

Puri: Keeping in view the large number of devotees expected to throng Puri on ‘Panchuka’ tomorrow, police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure smooth darshan of the holy trinity.

Lord Jagannath will don the ‘Laxmi Narayan Besha’ on Friday, which is the very first day of Panchuka. And so, the pilgrim town is expected to witness footfall of lakhs of devotees.

Commenting on the security arrangements, Puri SP Umashankar Das said, “We are expecting an increase in the number of devotees this year. So, we have deployed 30 platoons of police force and over 100 officers.”

"Officers from outside the State will also assist the State police in handling the crowd," said Das.

The Puri district administration is reportedly focusing more on crowd management inside the 12th century shrine to ensure smooth darshan for the devotees.