The officials of Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) said that more Hindu devotees from several other Asian countries visited the temple this year as a result of the positive impression it created about the festival months in advance.
Though most of the foreign Hindu devotees came from neighboring India, pilgrims from as far as Malaysia, Singapore, Maldives and Bangladesh also arrived in large numbers this time, said PADT member secretary Sushil Nahata.[break]
However, the festival saw fewer yogis and sadhus compared to the past years. Nahata said that only around 3000 to 5000 sadhus and Naga babas visited the temple this year due to the ongoing Kumbha Mela in India. Some 7000 babas had visited Pashupatinath last year.
Around 5,000 devotees bought special ticket worth Rs 1000 to avoid having to stand in the queue to offer prayer to the Shivalinga, said the PADT treasurer Narottam Vaidya.
He claimed that visitors could worship the linga this year with more ease.
The PADT had created three entry points for the visitors from Tilganga, Gaushala and Mitrapark. The traffic police had been deployed in the area to restrict vehicles, which were diverted toward Koteshwar and Ratnapark.
Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav visited the Pashupatinath temple on the occasion of Mahashivaratri on the day. Hundreds of visitors were stopped to proceed from their queue for half an hour when the president arrived at the temple at 6 in the evening.
The trust had made special arrangements this year, adding number of temporary toilets, health camps and tents especially for elderly and the people with disability.
One dozen temporary toilets and four mobile toilets were managed for the visitors. Similarly, 36 temporary health camps were erected to provide emergency health services. Several private hospitals and nursing homes had also stationed their ambulances and oxygen cylinders for immediate response.
“Five people who fainted while standing on the queue were brought to our camp and we provided them the treatment,” said Vaidya.
In order to maintain the security status, the Metropolitan Police Commissioners´ Office had deployed 5500 security personnel around the PADT area on the day. Likewise, more than 3000 volunteers of Nepal Red Cross Society, Scout and other local clubs were active to control the crowd and supervise other arrangements.
A 251-member committee led by Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Posta Bahadur Bogati was formed to organize the festival which had further divided the works among several sub committees.
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Devotees throng Pashupatinath to observe Mahashivaratri (photo...
