Adequate security and medical arrangements have been put in place at the famous temple town of Dongargarh in Rajnandgaon district as the nine-day long Navratri festival will begin on Monday. Over 1,000 jawans have been deployed to ensure security.

Every year lakhs of people visit the renowned Mata Bamleshwari temple to offer prayers to the Goddess. The administration has set up stalls for helping devotees coming from as far as Anjora, which is 60 km from the temple. Security personnel and health workers will be deployed at every stall.

"We have made all administrative arrangements of security and medical assistance. Arrangements of drinking water and emergency services have also been ensured on the route to the temple," said Collector Ashok Agrawal.

Elaborating on the security arrangements, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Shukla said more than a dozen gazetted officers and 1,000 jawans will work towards ensuring that no untoward incident takes place during the festival. Keeping in mind smooth movement of traffic, elaborate arrangements for parking of vehicles have been put in place. A mobile unit of the security team will keep an eye on the pedestrian devotees who come from faraway places.

Arrangements for Navratri have completed in all the temples in the city. Historical Dantewada temple in Dantewada district, Mahamaya temple in the city, Sheetla temple, Banjari temple have also completed preparations for the festival.

During Navratri, devotees of Goddess Durga observe fast and offer prayers for health and prosperity. Devotees avoid meat, alcohol, grains, wheat and onion during the fast. Grains are usually avoided since it is believed that during the period of Navratri and seasonal change, grains attract and absorb lots of negative energies from the surroundings.

Navratri is also a period of introspection and purification, and is traditionally an auspicious and religious time for starting new ventures.