Deoghar admin on alert to prevent entry of devotees

Dumka: With the start of auspicious Shravan month on Monday, the Deoghar district administration has intensified security checks at its borders to ban entry of devotees to the temple town. The district officials were also on high alert to prevent any gathering at the Baba Baidyanthdham temple here on the first Shravani Somwari after the Jharkhand high court banned Shravani Mela this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The district authorities, however, started online telecast of the rituals in the temple so that devotees do not miss this year’s darshan.
DIG (Dumka range) Narendra Kumar Singh, Deoghar deputy commissioner Nancy Sahay and SP Piyush Pandey reviewed the security arrangements in and around the temple and directed the officials for total compliance of the court orders.
Late on Saturday night, a group of devotees tried to enter Deoghar to offer puja at Babadham temple, but they were stopped by the security forces at Dumma, a village bordering Bihar. Local sources said the devotees later offered Gangajal at the Dumma entry gate to mark their obeisance to Lord Shiva and went back raising slogans against the state government.
Sahay said, "Around two dozen devotees came in private vehicles and tried to enter the town leading to a verbal altercation with the security forces at Dumma but were not allowed to enter."
She further said entry of vehicles to the district without passes are banned. "We have asked the authorities in neighbouring states to inform the devotees about the closure of Deoghar temple this year. We have also set up our own security apparatus in place to prevent unauthorised entry."
The DC said Deoghar residents are fully cooperating with the district officials. "We have started online telecast of the puja through our Facebook page and a few private channels from Monday."