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Agartala, Oct 20 (IANS) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Monday inaugurated a three-day Diwali festival and fair at the Mata Tripura Sundari Temple, one of the 51 Shaktipeeths of Hindus, in Udaipur in south Tripura’s Gomati district.
Before formally inaugurating the Diwali festivities and fair, the chief minister along with his wife Swapna Saha and several cabinet colleagues performed puja at the famous temple.
Transport and Tourism Minister Sushant Choudhary said the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is operating two special trains – Agartala-Dharmanagar-Agartala and Agartala-Sabroom-Agartala – for three days (October 20 to 22) to manage the huge rush of passengers during the festival and fair. Every year thousands of devotees from different parts of the country participate in the festival.
Earlier, hundreds of people from even Bangladesh used to attend the annual Diwali festival and fair, but after last year’s political turmoil in the neighboring country, the number of participants has dropped drastically. Gomti district Superintendent of Police (SP) Kiran Kumar K said elaborate security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order during the three-day festival.
As part of security measures, more than 3,000 security personnel, including Tripura State Rifles (TSR), have been deployed. The IPS officer said thirty-seven CCTV cameras and 10 watch towers have been installed in and around the temple premises for round-the-clock surveillance.
District police and CRPF forces have been deployed, while several hundred volunteers have been deployed to manage the large crowd and devotees expected during the three-day festival. The district police chief said that regular vehicle checking and intensive patrolling is also being done to prevent any untoward incident.
Meanwhile, fulfilling a long-awaited public demand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22 inaugurated the redeveloped Mata Tripura Sundari Temple and performed puja at the Kali temple.
Under the PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Promotion Drive) scheme of the Union Tourism Ministry, the 524-year-old Tripura Sundari Temple has been redeveloped at a cost of over Rs 54 crore, a senior tourism department official said.
The Central Government provided Rs 34.43 crore, while the Tripura Government contributed Rs 17.61 crore towards the project. Built in 1501 by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya, the former king of the state of Udaipur, the temple is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in the country and the third such temple in eastern India after the Kali Temple at Kalighat in Kolkata and the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati.
After 517 years of monarchy, on 15 October 1949, the erstwhile princely state of Tripura merged with the Indian Union following an agreement signed between the then ruler Maharani Kanchana Prabha Devi and the Governor-General of India.
–IANS
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