Lucknow: To give an auspicious start to the New Year, several lakh people thronged religious cities of Uttar Pradesh- Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura.
Leaving behind the historical and other important places, number of visitors to the religious towns of Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi have created a new record. Over ten lakh people reached in each of these three cities to welcome the New Year on Sunday.
Ayodhya, Mathura witness huge crowds on New Year
In Ayodhya alone, around ten lakh people performed Puja at Hanuman Garhi and Ram temple surpassing previous year’s record of 5.5 lakh. Similar was the scene at Mathura, where a large number of people arrived to greet the New Year. According to officials, heavy rush of devotees was seen at Banke Bihari temple where despite restrictions for elderly people and children around ten lakh people performed Puja on December 31 night and Sunday morning.
In the wake of recent incident of stampede during the Krishna Janamashtmi, the administration had made elaborate arrangement for the devotees in Mathura. The officials informed that a large number of people from Gujrat, Rajasthan and Delhi had arrived holy city of Mathura to greet the New Year.
Over 6 lakh visit Kashi Vishwanath temple on Sunday
In Varanasi, breaking all previous records, over six lakh devotees visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple on Sunday. Last year around five lakh people had visited Kashi Vishwanath on New Year’s Day. The hotels and motels in Varanasi were jam-packed and so was the scene at the guest houses. Officials in Varanasi said that on the New Year ’s Eve, the crowd made a record and there was a footfall of around ten lakh people in the city. The Ganga Arti on both Saturday & Sunday witnessed record attendance. Other than Kashi Vishwanath temple, a large number of devotees visited Sankat Mochan and Kaal Bhairav temples of Varanasi.
Heavy rush at construction site of Ram temple
The temple city of Ayodhya witnessed largest turnout on the New Year ’s Day with more than ten lakh people arriving here to perform Puja. According to the Superintendent of Police City (SP City), Madhuban Singh around 6 to 8 people had visited the temples by 6 PM on Sunday. Of these maximum had performed Puja at the famous Hanuman Garhi. At the construction site of Ram temple in Ayodhya there was heavy rush of people. However, unlike Mathura and Varanasi, the hotels and guest houses in Ayodhya were not full as most of people who visited here, had returned by the evening.
