JAGANNATH TEMPLE OPENS EARLY FOR NEW YEAR DEVOTEE RUSH

To handle the expected crowd on New Year's Day, Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri plans to open its doors at 1 am.

- 

Temple rituals will conclude early on Sunday, allowing closure at 11 pm, with doors reopening two hours later, as stated by Puri district collector Samarth Verma.

Every January 1, hundreds of thousands of devotees visit the temple to seek blessings from the sibling deities - Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra, and Goddess Subhadra.

"We expect that about 3-4 lakh devotees will visit the temple on New Year's Day. The added enthusiasm is also because the people want to experience the revamped surrounding of the temple due to the heritage corridor project, which is almost complete, and will be inaugurated on January 17," said Ranjan Das, the chief administrator of Jagannath Temple.