Police officials have reviewed security and crowd-management preparations at the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Thiruvannamalai ahead of the Deepam festival, including the routes through which devotees will enter and leave the temple complex.
The festival is scheduled to begin with the flag-hoisting ceremony on November 15. The Bharani Deepam will be lit at 4 am on November 24, followed by the Maha Deepam at 6 pm on the summit of the 2,668-foot Annamalai hill, according to the report by Dinamalar.
The review was led by North Zone Inspector General Praveen Kumar Abhinabu, along with Vellore Deputy Inspector General Mahesh and Superintendent of Police Udayakumar. The officials visited the temple on the previous night as preparatory work for the festival was under way.
During the inspection, the police team sought details from temple staff, priests and temple authorities on the arrangements already made for the event. The officials included temple Joint Commissioner Paranidharan, who briefed the team on the preparations, the report said.
The discussions focused on the areas where devotees will be permitted during the Deepam celebrations, as well as the entry and exit routes inside the temple. These arrangements are central to managing the movement of visitors through a religious complex that will host multiple ceremonies and processions during the festival.
The festival programme includes processions of the Pancha Murthis through the streets every morning and evening. A chariot procession involving the Pancha Murthis is scheduled for the seventh day of the celebrations. The combination of temple rituals, street processions and the lighting of the Deepam creates several points at which pedestrian movement and access controls must be coordinated.
The police review therefore covered both the temple premises and the broader movement arrangements connected to the festival. Officials asked for details about the locations where devotees would be allowed and how visitors would enter and leave the complex during the main events.
The Deepam festival’s schedule places the most significant ceremonies on November 24, beginning with the Bharani Deepam before dawn and ending with the Maha Deepam on the hill summit in the evening. The review took place before those ceremonies, while the festival’s preliminary arrangements were still being carried out.
The report did not provide details of the total number of devotees expected, the number of police personnel to be deployed, traffic diversions, temporary facilities or any restrictions beyond the proposed access arrangements. It also did not specify whether separate operating plans had been finalised for the temple rituals, street processions and hilltop ceremony.
The next stage of preparation will involve completing the arrangements discussed during the inspection before the festival begins on November 15. The authorities are expected to use the identified entry, exit and permitted-access points as part of the arrangements for the ceremonies and processions.
