Though Puri Sankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati is against celebration of the New Year Day as per the English calendar, about five lakh devotees thronged Shree Jagannth temple on the occasion.
Though lord Jagannth has 13 major festivals in 12 months in a year, the New Year has become another major celebration in the 12th century shrine at Puri, making it the 14th.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has been making special arrangement for smooth Darshan of the Trinity for the devotees, who prefer to begin their New Year with blessings of the lord.
In order to ensure smooth darshan for the devotees, the temple’s gate was opened up to devotees at about 1.45 am on Monday as people made a beeline to have darshan of the deities from the midnight of December 31. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was among lakhs of devotees, who offered prayers at the Jagannath temple here on the occasion of the New Year's Day. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty and Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patasani accompanied the Chief Minister during his prayers at the temple.
After having darshan of the lord, Patnaik came out waving to the people waiting outside to greet him. "I prayed to lord Jagannath for the well-being, peace and prosperity of the people of Odisha," Patnaik told mediapersons.
Though there was a heavy rush at the temple, there had been no special arrangement for the Chief Minister.
"We took the Chief Minister through a separate way to the temple keeping an eye that common devotees do not suffer," said Shree Jagannath Temple Chief Administrator Pradeep Jena.
Jena along with District Magistrate Arvind Agarwal and SP Sarthak Sarangi was continuously monitoring the arrangements from December 31 afternoon till late night of January 1.