The Hassan district administration has completed preparations for nine-day Hasanamba Utsav beginning on Thursday. The Hassan City Municipal Council has taken care of keeping the city clean ahead of the festival. Colourful lighting and floral decoration on the roads leading to the temple will welcome devotees visiting the city.
The festival is celebrated when the temple is opened, which happens only for a few days in the month of Ashwayuja in a year. Thousands of people from distant places visit for a darshan of the deity at Hasanamba Temple.
The temple will be opened on Thursday afternoon. On the first day, the public will not be allowed to have darshan. The temple will be closed on November 9. The district police have made elaborate security arrangements to handle the crowd.
A.N. Prakash Gowda, Superintendent of Police, on Wednesday, said police would be deployed in three shifts on a day. In each shift, a Dy.SP, two circle inspectors, seven PSIs, 20 ASIs, 100 head constables/constables and 25 women police constables would be on duty. Besides them, 25 home-guards would also be deployed.
No cameras
The officer has said nobody would be allowed to take photos near the sanctum-sanctorum of the temple. The police would seize mobile phones of those people who attempt to take photos in the premises. The devotees have to park their vehicles in the vacant land next to CMC office.
Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri Dasari visited the temple premises on Wednesday evening along with other officers and inspected the preparations for the festival. The administration has made arrangements to provide drinking water to devotees who stand in long queues for the deity’s darshan. Special passes priced at ₹300 and ₹1,000 have been introduced for those who want to have darshan in short time.