Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh): Common devotees at the historic Omkareshwar temple are facing difficulties due to widespread abuse of protocol privileges by government officials and their families. The sacred jyotirling temple is seeing hundreds of unauthorised ‘VIP entries’ daily, causing disruption to regular temple operations and forcing ordinary pilgrims to endure extended waiting times.
While official protocols should only be issued by the collector or the district’s SP, numerous government employees bypass the requirement. Officials from various departments - including judiciary, revenue, municipal council, police and public works are using their official IDs to gain unauthorised preferential access, often bringing groups of 20-25 people with them.
The situation is particularly problematic as these groups frequently enter through the temple's exit gate, creating chaos in the shrine's carefully planned crowd management system.
Regular devotees, who sometimes travel from distant locations and wait in queues for hours are forced to wait even longer or leave without darshan when these impromptu VIP groups arrive. Temple authorities report that the daily number of such protocol entries exceeds 100, with most lacking proper authorisation.
Dy collector assigned to oversee smooth darshan
Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh): Collector Rishav Gupta, on Thursday, assigned deputy collector with the task of overseeing smooth darshan system at Omkareshwar temple.
The action was taken in view of increase in complaints of disruptions in darshan system due to promotion of VIP darshan in the temple.
Deputy collector Kashiv's responsibilities include maintaining order, preventing crowds on hanging bridge and stopping any illegal VIP Darshan practices. He will coordinate with Punasa SDM and report any law and order incidents to collector Gupta.
