Thousands of devotees from far-off places of Odisha and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh thronged the Tara Tarini Temple, a famous Shakti shrine, here located on the bank of the Rushikulya river on the occasion of the Chaitra Mela which began from the first Tuesday of the month of Chaitra.
Braving the scorching sun, the devotees during the festival climb 999 steps to reach the 17th-century temple about 709 feet above the sea level. They also get their babies tonsured and offer hairs to the goddess every Tuesday of the month.
A company from Andhra Pradesh is collecting the hairs offering around Rs 2.25 lakh this time to the temple management. last year, the company had offered Rs 2.60 lakh, temple sources said. Around 700 police personnel, including eight platoons of police, three Additional SPs of Ganjam), a DSP and ten Inspector-rank police officers are camping at the temple premises for traffic management and to look into the law and order problem.
"The district administration and the temple management have made elaborate arrangements for the convenience of the visitors," said Tara Tarini Development Board secretary Pramod Kumar Panda.
