Lakhs of visitors braved the spine-chilling cold to seek blessings of Ram and catch a glimpse of the newly established Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir. Adityanath’s words, however, were like magic and brought much-needed relief to the security personnel struggling since morning.
After the chief minister’s appeal, visitors fell into a queue but many also took to squatting in their spots waiting for their turn. According to figures shared by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the temple had a footfall of more than 5 lakh for darshan.
Why did the situation go nearly out of control?
The question, however, remains as to why the situation went almost out of hand. Wasn’t the temple trust anticipating such huge numbers? Wasn’t there adequate security management? If the Ayodhya district administration is to be believed, it was the unanticipated numbers that thronged the temple on the very first day.
“Unaware of the fact that the temple is closed for three days until January 22, the day of the ‘pran pratishtha’, there were several who, by then, had already reached Ayodhya. These devotees stayed. On January 24, when the temple was thrown open to the public, they turned out as an addition to the anticipated numbers,” said Ayodhya district magistrate Nitish Kumar.
What happened on Day 1 after the temple was opened to the public?
It all began around 3 am when visitors started pouring in and began queuing up at the temple gate. Not just from Ayodhya, people from neighbouring districts including Barabanki, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Unnao, Kannauj among others were also there. There were several visitors already camping in Ayodhya, who also joined the queue. Around 7 am, when the gates were opened, chaos prevailed. By 11 am, the time when the gates were closed again, there were at least 50,000 people on the ‘darshan path’.
Though as per the temple’s schedule, the gates for the second shift of darshan are to be opened at 2 pm but were opened at 1 pm, considering the long queues. “As the gates opened, visitors ran towards the temple and a chaotic situation ensued,” said a visitor, who had come for darshan.
CM watchful from Lucknow
Despite being in Lucknow, the CM kept a watchful eye on the situation unfolding in Ayodhya. To ensure safety and convenience, he dispatched principal secretary, home, Sanjay Prasad, director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar to Ayodhya among other local officers to handle the situation.
“A special crowd management system was put in place. We have formed a holding area and are releasing the crowd in a controlled manner in order to avoid any kind of chaos at the Ram Temple,” said Ayodhya divisional commissioner Gaurav Dayal, who was at the spot.
When Yogi handled the situation from Ground Zero
But, that was not all. Adityanath then decided to visit Ground Zero to handle the situation. He took control using the public address system to urge visitors to be patient and cooperate with the police and district administration.
“Ram Lalla will give ‘darshan’ to all. We are working spontaneously to ensure smooth ‘darshan’,” he said. The CM’s appeal brought the situation under control and smoothened the flow of visitors. Also, he made changes in the entry and exit points to ensure easy inflow and outflow and so as to avoid bottlenecks. The doors were kept open for a longer duration to accommodate the ever-growing crowd so that no visitor left the temple disappointed.
CM’s aerial survey of Ram Janmabhoomi
Other than manning the situation, Adityanath and other senior officials also conducted an aerial survey of Ram Janmabhoomi as well as Ram Path, and took stock of the arrangements. Based on his observations, he directed the Ayodhya district magistrate to deploy magistrates at eight strategic locations to manage peace, security, traffic and public order. He then reached the Ram temple and met the office-bearers of the temple trust to discuss steps for effective crowd management.
Changes made in crowd management plan
Based on Adityanath’s observation during the aerial survey, immediate changes were made in the existing crowd management plan of the Ram temple. Principal secretary, home, Sanjay Prasad said a key meeting of the CM and officials was held on crowd management.
In the meeting, Adityanath directed the officials to strategise on how to get rid of long queues. “Barricading has been done and four rows have been formed. We have been given instructions to ensure that devotees do not face any difficulty,” Prasad said, explaining the revised measures. He said a sufficient number of police and other security personnel have been deployed in and around the Ram temple premises as hordes of visitors throng the temple.
The state government spokesperson said the other changes made are: darshan timings have been extended till 10 pm; four new holding areas have been made to send pilgrims in batches; security cover has increased from 3,000 to 5,000 personnel; the number of barricades and cameras have been increased; and VIP visitors now have to give a week’s notice before arrival.
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