Kashi rejoices on Vishwanath's big day

Varanasi: The holy city celebrated the festival of Mahashivratri, the day Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati, in a grand style on Tuesday.
A huge crowd of people from across the country and abroad started visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and other temples of Lord Shiva to offer prayers from Monday night.
Shiv Baraat, the wedding processions of Lord Shiva, was taken out on roads in afternoon while the main procession was carried out from Maidagin to Dasashwamedh in the evening.Many groups of pilgrims from other states like Maharashtra and Gujarat also carried out processions in their own traditional styles.
The celebrations of Lord Shiva’s marriage started in the city from the eve of Mahashivratri on Monday with thousands of devotees from neighbouring districts reaching the city. Enthused devotees, mostly youngsters, kept the Panchkroshi Parikrama road crowded by starting parikrama from Monday night which concluded with jalabhishek at Kashi Vishwanath Temple on Tuesday evening.
Business of hotels, lodges and guest houses boomed due to large number of visitors in the city. Roads of the interior localities like Siddhgiribagh, Sonia, Sigra and Gaighat had turned into parking zones with buses carrying pilgrims. The entire barricaded area between Godowlia and Chowk was occupied by the devotees who had started queuing up for visiting KVT since Monday midnight.
Police officials involved in crowd regulation exercises said the size of queues had reduced by 12 noon but after 1 pm it again started stretching up to Godowlia via Dasashwamedh and to Bulanal on the other side. By Tuesday evening, the number of devotees visiting the KVT had crossed the mark of two lakhs.
In view of the alert sounded by intelligence agencies regarding the possibility of terror activity on the occasion of Mahashivratri the district administration and police had left no stone unturned to ensure tight security not only at KVT but all other prominent temples of Lord Shiva. Apart from KVT devotees offered prayers at Markandeya Mahadeo Temple, located at the confluence of the Ganga and Gomti in Kaithi area.
Huge crowd of devotees thronged the other prominent temples including Mrityunjaya Mahadeo, Shool Tankeshwar, Kedareshwar, Omkaleshwar, Tilbhandeshwar, Sarangdev and Rameshwar to offer prayers to Lord Shiva. All the temples in the holy city were decorated to mark the festivity. ‘Thadai’ and ‘bhang’ remained in demand on the festive occasion.
KVT security breached: The security of highly sensitive Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex was breached on the day of Mahashivratri when a security guard of a former Bihar minister reached up to the doors of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple with his pistol on Tuesday morning. After the CRPF personnel took the security guard under custody, SSP Jogendra Kumar ordered to lodge an FIR against him.
According to reports, a former minister of Bihar and Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh reached KVT with his gunner. His act exposed the tall claims of security arrangements of the red zone (inner cordon) of this highly sensitive complex as despite the provision of three tier security cordon and frisking at several points the gunner succeeded in carrying his weapon up to the temple gate. More shocking was to see the violation of provision prescribed by district administration that VIP entry will be allowed in KVT after 5 pm only.
Some local traders drew the attention of CRPF personnel towards the pistol of the gunner after which he was caught and was handed over to the Chowk police. SSP Jogendra Kumar said that an FIR had been lodged against the gunner in this connection. He further added that initial investigation in this matter has revealed that the former minister was taken to the main gate of the temple through the residence of some local and not through the proper entry points.
He said that efforts were being made to find out whether security personnel had performed any laxity in this episode.
The security of highly sensitive Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex was breached on the day of Mahashivratri when a security guard of a former Bihar minister reached up to the doors of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple with his pistol on Tuesday morning. After the CRPF personnel took the security guard under custody, SSP Jogendra Kumar ordered to lodge an FIR against him.
According to reports, a former minister of Bihar and Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh reached KVT with his gunner. His act exposed the tall claims of security arrangements of the red zone (inner cordon) of this highly sensitive complex as despite the provision of three tier security cordon and frisking at several points the gunner succeeded in carrying his weapon up to the temple gate. More shocking was to see the violation of provision prescribed by district administration that VIP entry will be allowed in KVT after 5 pm only.
Some local traders drew the attention of CRPF personnel towards the pistol of the gunner after which he was caught and was handed over to the Chowk police. SSP Jogendra Kumar said that an FIR had been lodged against the gunner in this connection. He further added that initial investigation in this matter has revealed that the former minister was taken to the main gate of the temple through the residence of some local and not through the proper entry points.
He said that efforts were being made to find out whether security personnel had performed any laxity in this episode.
Shiv Sainiks’ bid to reach Shringargauri foiled: The Shiv Sena activists tried to maintain their tradition of trying to reach the disputed site of Shringargauri on KVT campus to offer Jalabhishek but their bid proved a flop show this time.
The Shiv Sainiks have been following this tradition for about two decades but every time they are stopped near Godowlia Crossing. This year, the Shiv Sainiks kept playing the game of hide and seek with police for reaching Godowlia from Sheetla Ghat. But, on reaching Godowlia they could not stage high voltage drama like past years due to their meager number. Police arrested all 24 of them and took to Dashaswamedh police station from where they were released on personal bonds.