Hundreds of tourists thronged the pilgrim and tourist town here to welcome the New Year and spend the winter vacation.
Every hour the tourist traffic was increasing as four wheeler vehicles were making a beeline to enter into the city while others came by regular and special trains. The small town is almost full with the visitors as most of the revellers want to remain on beach to welcome the New Year from the abode of lord Jagaannath and offer prayers to the Sun god.
Anticipating heavy rush into the temple, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration rescheduled the daily mites of the deities. As per the temple announcement on Sunday, the temple would close by 9 pm in the night while the temple would open for public at 2 am to facilitate darshan of the deities by the pilgrims.
Hundreds of hoteliers located alongside the beach have made special entertainment programmes and announced special cuisines and orchestra in their hotels. The locals, however, were participating in picnics in nearby spots.
The police had a tough time to regulate the visitor traffic while they were on toes as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to visit the temple at 11.30 am to offer prayers to the deities at the Shreemandir on the New Year morning and offer floral tributes to his late father Biju Patnaik’s Samadhi at Swargdwar burning ghat and inaugurate the “Sanskruti Bhavan.’
Meanwhile, Jagatguru Sankaracharya decried the celebration of English New Year and enphasised on observance of Hindu New Year. Activist of Aditya Vahini, the youth wing of Sankaracharya mutt, announced to stage silent protest demonstration on the New Year in front of the Shree Jagannath temple and other religious centers.The tourists on the beach were enjoying camel and sea rides on sea bikes and boats and bathing on the sea. The administration placed hundreds of life guards along the beach line to help the visitors enjoy sea surfing.
About 50 platoons of police personnel were engaged on duty for law and order.
long barricades were raised in front of the Shree Jagannth temple main gate for smooth conduct of the pilgrims while special police teams were deployed to frisk the devotees and let them pass through the metal detector gates.
Security arrangements were also made at Konark, Ramchandi, Harchandi and Chilika lake where tourists were in large numbers enjoying boat ride.