VARANASI: In less than a month of its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, the Kashi Vishwanath Dham witnessed a record footfall of devotees in a day for offering prayers on Saturday — the New Year’s Day.
As per police records, 3.35 lakh pilgrims entered Kashi Vishwanath temple for darshan and prayers, while district officials estimated the presence of over five lakh people in KV Dham including those who offered prayers at the temple amid the teeming crowd. The record footfall alerted police and administration on the risks from overcrowding following which new crowd management arrangements were announced and traffic restrictions put in over 2 km radius of the shrine.
“In comparison to past records of footfall at Kashi Vishwanath temple in a day ranging between 2 lakh-2.50 lakh on special occasions like Mahashivratri festival or Mondays of Shrawan month, we witnessed a crowd of over five lakh at KV Dham on Saturday. The number of pilgrims visiting KVD is a new record of footfall in a day at the shrine,” said divisional commissioner and chairman of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board Deepak Agrawal.
The huge footfall on Saturday was really surprising as there has been no trend of massive gathering of devotees on New Year’s Day, he added. As per the past records of temple administration and Gyanvapi security control room, KV Temple witnesses crowd in normal days due to arrival of outstation pilgrims and the average footfall of devotees is around 10,000, but the number of devotees rose to over two lakh on special occasions like Mahashivratri and Mondays of Shrawan month.
