Guwahati: Devotees from across the country who flocked to the Kamakhya temple atop Nilachal Hills in Assam’s Guwahati complained about the mismanagement during the Ambubachi Mela.
Many female devotees were allegedly manhandled by the bouncers on the last day of the Ambubachi mela.
“We have come from Delhi to take blessings of Maa Kamakhya but we were not allowed to enter the temple after standing in queue for over 12 hours. We are very much disappointed with temple authority and district administration,” said Kabita, a devotee come from Delhi.
She alleged, “For VVIPs, there is a system and they can easily enter the temple premises but we common people could do so. They are charging Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 for entry into the temple.”
The doors of the Kamakhya temple reopened on Monday after being closed for three days.
At the Kamakhya temple, the Ambubachi mela’s Nivritti was performed on Monday.
Over 15 lakh devotees from across the country flock to the Nilachal hill to attend the grand ritual in the Shakti Peeth and pay their obeisance to the Goddess Kamakhya.
Many of them, however, had to go back home without paying a darshan of Maa Kamakhya, thanks to the poor arrangement of the temple authority and Kamrup (M) district administration.
This time the temple authority handed over the security arrangement to private agencies.
Unfortunately, volunteers engaged in security management allegedly manhandled many devotees.
“We are very much upset with the arrangement. We have come from far-flung areas to take blessings of Maa Kamakhya but we were not permitted to enter because, before 4 pm, the temple authority closed down the doors of the temple,” alleged another devotee.
One of the members of the temple authority said that this time they engaged private agencies for security arrangements during the Ambubachi mela.
“It is very difficult to manage the crowd during Ambubachi mela as a large number of people gather here. We, however, tried our level best to control the gathering,” said Himadri Sarma the assistant head priest at Kamakhya temple.