Kathmandu, September 1:

The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) has said that devotees visiting Pashupatinath temple during ‘Teej’ would face less trouble this year. Scientific and proper arrangement have been made at Pashupatinath area for the day this year, it said.

Nirmal Kuikel, member secretary of the PADT, said arrangements have been made in such a way that maximum number of devotees could conduct puja at a time. “From the western door alone, four people could worship at once. It will help queues move faster than the past,” he said. “During the morning, devotees will not have to stay more than 30 minutes in queue and in the afternoon, they will need to wait at most two hours,” he added.

The PADT has also constructed iron stalls for keeping shoes. Kuikel said as the temporary bamboo stalls in the past were less efficient, the iron stalls would be permanent and could be used even during other festivals.

Around 1,500 security personnel would be deployed in the Pashupati area tomorrow. Kuikel said only female Armed Police Force personnel would be stationed on the temple premises, since it is a festival of women. He further said volunteers from Red Cross and Scouts would be providing medical and other services.

Under the main organising committee, the PADT has constructed eight sub committees, for security and sanitation, health, religious event management, chandan distribution and others. This year, three different routes for the devotees are defined: first one is from Mitrapark, Umakunda, the second one from Gaushala and the third one from the Bhuwaneshwori temple.

Devotees have also been requested to avoid wearing expensive ornaments, using glass materials and bringing infants to the temple.