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Barricades re-aligned, drones deployed in Ayodhya for crowd management

By, Lucknow
Jan 18, 2025 10:29 PM IST

As around two lakh pilgrims are arriving in Ayodhya daily from Prayagraj, long queues outside Ram Mandir and Hanuman Garhi have become a common sight.

HT Correspondent

Devotees are queuing up outside Ram Mandir around 5am, an hour before the temple opens for devotees. (Anil Kumar Maurya/HT)
Devotees are queuing up outside Ram Mandir around 5am, an hour before the temple opens for devotees. (Anil Kumar Maurya/HT)

With a large number of devotees from Prayagraj Mahakumbh visiting Ayodhya daily to complete their pilgrimage cycle, the administration has taken several measures to streamline crowd management. The measures include realigning barricades and railings, besides deploying drones.

As around two lakh pilgrims are arriving in Ayodhya daily from Prayagraj, long queues outside Ram Mandir and Hanuman Garhi have become a common sight.

Ayodhya divisional commissioner Gaurav Dayal said, “Barricades are being re-aligned according to movement of crowd in Ayodhya town and in areas around the Ram Janmabhoomi,” said Dayal.

“With the help of drones also we are keeping a watch on crowd movement. Our main focus is on crowd management,” he added.

“We are expecting a huge turnout of pilgrims on Mauni Amawasya (January 29), Basant Panchami (February 3) and Shivratri (February 26),” said Dayal.

Devotees are queuing up outside Ram Mandir around 5am, an hour before the temple opens for devotees.

The Ayodhya administration, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and senior officials of the security force deployed on the Ram Mandir campus held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the issue.

To regulate movement of crowds in the Ayodhya Dham (old Ayodhya town), the local administration has increased the number of queues outside the Ram Mandir by putting up more steel railings.

Devotees are being stopped at the Ram Mandir’s entrance and allowed to enter in batches only after getting clearance from the security staff deployed inside the temple.

“Only after devotees present inside the temple move out from the sanctum sanctorum, the next batch from outside the temple is allowed to enter the temple complex,” said Anil Mishra, member of the Trust.

“We have also taken lessons from past experience and made sure not to repeat previous mistakes,” said Mishra.

“The temple is being closed only for 15 minutes in the afternoon for aarti to make sure everyone in queue could have darshan of Ram Lalla,” he said.

Long queues of devotees stretching up to three km can be seen outside the Hanuman Gahri temple.

Steel barricades and railings have been put up outside Hanuman Garhi stretching up to the main road to regulate movement of devotees.

Entry and exit points in both Hanuman Garhi and Ram Mandir have been earmarked. No one is allowed to exit from the entry point and enter from the exit gate.

With the Nageshwar Nath temple at Ram Ki Paidi drawing a large number of devotees, State Disaster Response Force members have been deployed at Ram ki Paidi along with local police force.

No vehicle is allowed on the entire stretch of Ram Path, which passes through the heart of Ayodhya town.

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