Huge turnout of devotees from various parts of state at Sathuragiri hill temple

Since the foothill comes under Virudhunagar district and the hillock falls under the limits of Madurai district, both the administrations made necessary arrangements to help devotees.

“Twenty-five government buses were engaged in transporting the devotees from Thaaniparai to the foothill. Four parking lots with a capacity for 2,000 vehicles have been temporarily set up,” said Virudhunagar Collector A Sivagnanam, adding that about 40,000 devotees got access to the temple till evening hours of Saturday.

Besides, basic facilities including drinking water, toilets and petty shops was ensured. In a bid to discourage devotees from using plastic bag, cloth bags were made available. Medical teams were also deployed to assist those in need of assistance.

A total of six coordination teams comprising officials from Departments of Forest, Revenue, Police, Health, Fire and Rescue Services were formed. Sign boards were placed at twelve different locations to direct the devotees from Alagapuri to Maharajapuram and from Watrap to Thaaniparai road.

“To monitor and prevent any intrusion of Maoists, a team of Central Reserve Police Force was stationed in the hill area. The Forest personnel are also guarding the area, which falls under Srivilliputhur range,” the Collector said.

When contacted, Superintendent of Police M Rajarajan said tight security is in place with the deployment of around 1,100 police personnel on the foothill area and around 800 police personnel on the hillock. Besides, fifty personnel from Special Task Force are also in place. “We have been regulating traffic and managing the crowd. Frisking was carried out to prevent devotees from possessing prohibited items such as plastic, liquor bottle, cigarette, match box and other inflammable items,” the SP said.