No entry for vehicles into Tiruvannamalai town for Chitra Pournamai

TIRUVANNAMALAI:

:

A complete ban on vehicles including two-wheelers and cars will be in place in Tiruvannamalai town for Chitra Pournami festival on April 16 - 17 (Saturday - Sunday) with 3,242 police personnel will be deployed for bandobast and traffic regulation duties in the temple town during the weekend.

Officials said that vehicles will be stopped on the outskirts of town and will be directed to park them in 37 designated spots to ensure more space for pedestrians, who are mostly devotees. Visitors have to walk to reach the Arunchalaeswarar temple after parking their vehicles on the outskirts of the town, a distance of around two kms. The arrangement is mainly to prevent congestion on the key stretches to the town and stampede like situation as over 20 lakh visitors are expected to attend the festival during the weekend. “Trekking on the hillock by devotees and lighting of Karpurams in the temple and on the 14-km-long-girivalam path for the festival are also banned,” said A. Pavan Kumar Reddy, SP (Tiruvannamalai).

Apart from 2,800 special buses that will be operated by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), 14 additional trains will be run to the temple town for the festival. Special medical camps at 15 spots in the town are being set up with bike ambulances are also being operated to provide first aid to senior citizens, women and children, taking soaring temperatures in the temple town. Three battery operated cars will be operated free of cost in the temple town to transport senior citizens, women and children to the temple. Adequate wheelchairs are also kept ready for visitors with disabilities. A team of 39 bike patrols by the district police is also in place for the festival during the weekend to prevent petty crimes like chain snatching and cell phone robberies. A special desk was also set up to take complaints on missing children during the festival. 

Officials said that a review meeting for the basic amenities for the annual festival was chaired by Collector, B. Murugesh, with heads of various departments in the district including police, revenue, rural development, health, social welfare and the municipality. Use of banned plastic items including bags by visitors and traders will be discouraged. Traders including petty shopkeepers were told to insist consumers to collect items in cloth bags or the shopkeepers have to provide cloth bags.

Among devotees’ friendly initiatives for the festival, officials said that at present, 40 spots have been identified for annadhanam (free food distribution) including on the girivalam path where volunteers will be allowed to set up free food distribution kiosks. Further, nine additional bus termini have been set up to operate special buses for the festival. Donors are allowed to distribute free food at these additional terminis for the festival to prevent crowds and easy availability of free food for visitors.

The Arunachalesvara temple on the foothill of Annamalai Hills will be opened between 4 a.m and 11 p.m for Chitra Pournami on April 16-17. Due to the expected rush of devotees for the festival, officials said that letters from VVIPs for special VIP darshan will not be allowed. However, devotees can buy ₹50 per person for special darshan.