Over 5.50L offer prayers at KVT on Nag Panchami

Varanasi: After witnessing a huge footfall of 5.50 lakh devotees on the third Monday of Shravan month the Kashi Vishwanath Dham remained flooded with saffron clad kanwariyas and pilgrims for the second consecutive day on th occasion of the festival of Nag Panchami on Tuesday.
The long queues of kanwariyas moving towards KV Dham on foot remained evident on almost all the highways especially in morning hours on Tuesday. The commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh said that kanwariyas continued to arrive in the city in a large number in morning hours while by noon the number of kanwariyas and pilgrims returning to their destinations after offering Jalabhishek at Kashi Vishwanath temple was more.
As per the figures available with the police, over 1.10 lakh kanwariyas and pilgrims had entered KV Dham by 5pm on tuesday. Additional CP Santosh Kumar Singh said that as the further arrival of pilgrims continued till late evening no major relaxation was given in crowd regulation plan, which had been made effective since Sunday.
Meanwhile, other prominent temples of Lord Shiva also remained crowded on the fesrival of Nag Panchami and akhadas (wrestling ground) also remained abuzz with wrestlers following an annual tradition of wrestling on the day of the festival. Several wrestlers took part in the contest organised at the wrestling ring of Sampurnanand Sports Stadium while indigenous Akhadas like Swaminath Akhada of Tulsi Ghat also witnessed participation of a large number of contestants including women wrestlers.
Snake charmers seeking money by displaying snakes to passersby and sellers of Naagpanchami posters also had a field day since early morning.