By Binu Shrestha
Kathmandu, Mar. 10: The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) is ready to welcome hundreds of devotees on the day of Shivaratri on Thursday.
All preparation works for this year’s Maha Shivarati have completed, PADT said at a press meet on Tuesday.
Treasurer of PADT’s Dr. Milan Kumar Thapa said that it had allocated a budget of Rs. 2 million for making all preparations for the festival this year.
More devotees would visit to offer worship to lord Shiva at Pashupati this year due to the golden Jalahari which was recently installed inside the main temple. The attractive flower decoration had lured thousands of devotees at Pashupati last year.
“Our expectation this time is that the golden Jalahari will attract more people. The mobility of visitors has increased in recent days with the number of daily visitors reaching 100,000. Monetary offering has also increased in recent days,” said Thapa.
The number of Hindu ascetics (sadhus) has decreased and we have not expected any increase in their number this year, he added.
Member Secretary of PADT’s Dr. Pradeep Dhakal said that around 10,000 Nepal Police, Armed Police personnel and policemen in plainclothes will be deployed on the main premises of the Pashupati temple to maintain a sound security system.
It is expected that around 800,000 devotees would pay homage to Lord Shiva from outer and inner parts of the temple this year. Around 3,000 saints have arrived for the festival. Of them,
300 are Naga Babas (naked sadhus), he added.
The PADT has made arrangements for people to offer worship to Lord Shiva at Pashupati making separate lines from different places around the temple. “The arrangement of different lines is made so that pilgrims can easily pay homage to Lord Shiva in a short time,” said Dhakal.
He added that all four doors of the temple would be opened at 3:00 am. More than 100 different organisations would provide facility of distribute free meal, drinking water, juice, medical clinics and health camps setting inside the temple premises.
Vehicles will not be allowed to move towards Gaushala from Narayan Gopal Chowk, Mitrapark, Koteshwore, Old Baneshwor, Rato Pool, Shifal and Anamnagar.
Parking of vehicles belonging to civil people will be managed at Tilganga and near the PADT office and parking for general visitors and devotees will be managed at the Shifal area and ground.