Eight lakh devotees visit Kamakhya

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 24: The organizers of the Ambubachi Mela had a harrowing time on the third day of the mela today when there was literally a sea of humanity atop Nilachal Hill. The number of devotees today exceeded the holding capacity of the temple complex and the bandobast made for the mela.   

The response of devotees to the mela today was unprecedented, and that led the administration to cancel free-of-cost transportation from the foot hill of Kamakhya Dham to atop Nilachal Hill. Devotees were seen climbing the hill on foot in large numbers, daring the June heat. With devotees making beeline since morning, the administration had to make visitors stand in three queues for going round the temple. As many as 400 volunteers, besides lady police personnel and security personnel, were deployed there to control the situation.

According the Ambubachi Mela Organizing Samiti, around eight lakh devotees thronged the temple from morning today. The situation came to such a pass that the crowed of devotees had its spill-over effects on vehicular traffic from Jalukbari to Bharalu where it took around three hours for a commuter to pass by. So much so that, the administration had to dismantle a number of shops that had been erected for doing business during the Mela atop Nilachal Hill.