The holy month of Shravan has started and the celebration is in full swing at the historic temple of Pahari Mandir. Situated in the heart of the city, Pahari Mandir is all set to host the devotees of Lord Shiva.

Special arrangements have been made to tackle the increasing footfall of devotees at the shrine. Pahari Mandir Vikas Samiti, the temple management authority, has taken several measures for ensuring peaceful and hindrance-free worship. For safety and security, a cyber safety unit has been set up with about 16 CCTV cameras for the lower temple premises and 15 CCTV cameras for monitoring the main temple.

“The temple experiences a heavy rush of worshippers during this auspicious month, around 25,000 to 30,000 is the average number on regular days and the number crosses 1 lakh limit on Mondays,” said Sunil Kumar Seru, an official from the Pahari Mandir Vikash Samiti. Pilgrims not only from the city but from all across the State come and offer prayers at the temple. Fencing and barricading, to ensure easy and regulated movement of people, have been put up with separate queues for male and female.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation has taken the task of maintaining the cleanliness of the place along with the temple authority. Accessible dustbins, hygienic washrooms and attendees for maintaining the cleanliness are some facilities undertaken by the management and RMC. With about 500 stairs, the temple management has set up two different pathways for climbing up and getting down further facilitating the movement. “Keeping monsoon in our mind, we have set up special sheds for women devotees. Constant sweeping slippery floors is another important activity we have to perform to avoid accidents,” added Sunil.

Three medical aid units have also been set up to deal with emergencies. “The cooperation from the district administration has been of immense help be it appointment of police force or parking zone management,” said Sunil. The pilgrims start coming to the temple from 3.30 in the morning, facility of water, tea and biscuits have been arranged on the returning pathway.

There are five different ‘aartis’ performed at the temple during Shravan, namely at 4.30, 5.30 and 8.00 in the morning and then at 7.30 and 9.00 at the evening, after which the temple closes. “It is a whole different experience to visit Pahari Mandir during Sharvan. The arrangements made here quite up to the mark and is facilitating the ease with which we can worship here,” said Anish Kumar, a regular worshipper of Pahari Mnadir.