At 50,000 visitors, Digha’s Jagannath temple clocks highest footfall on Sunday

Digha: Jagannath temple in Digha saw its highest single-day footfall of 50,000 visitors on Sunday. Over 10 lakh people have visited the temple complex in five days since its April 30 inauguration.East Midnapore district magistrate Purnendu Kumar Maji, who was at the complex with senior police officials monitoring the first weekend crowd, said: "We are taking all steps to ensure that there is no chaos inside the temple." The high turnout coincided with weekend crowds reaching Digha, a holiday destination, he added.Police said the maximum rush was near the sanctum sanctorum. Armed with loud hailers, cops are asking visitors to not stand in front of the deity for long, which might lead to a claustrophobic situation. On Sunday, most visitors were spotted taking videos of the temple and selfies."A large number of people are queuing up since morning for a glimpse of Jagannath temple. The crowd for taking prasad is also increasing," an official said.The temple doors are currently being opened to the public daily from 6 am, similar to Puri's Jagannath temple. The temple is closed at 1 pm, reopens from 3 pm, and is shut at 9 pm. Visitors can enter through gates 6 and 7. Similar to Puri's famous ‘khaja', this temple will specialise in ‘sandesh' and ‘gaja'.The tourism department and district administration are pleased with the unprecedented turnout. "It's not possible to provide an exact number of visitors. But the crowd from morning till night suggests that the number of visitors is surpassing all records," an official said.During the weekend, hotels in Mandarmani, Tajpur and Shankarpur were also full to the brim with tourists aiming to visit the Jagannath temple. This remarkable surge of tourists would give a major boost to the tourism industry, an official said.Sanjeev Kumar from Bihar shared his experience. "I rushed to Digha to see Lord Jagannath. I was mesmerised by the sight of the deity. I had visited Digha 6 years ago, but this time I came with my family," he said.Sabuj Biswas of Thakurnagar and his friend from Durgapur said they found the temple had the total feel of the Puri temple.