Panaji: Walking on the streets of Shirgao on the day of Shree Devi Lairai jatra, scheduled to be held on April 21, will be more comfortable, but this time with no stalls selling toys, sweets, clothes and utensils. The entire area will be covered by CCTV cameras along with heavy deployment of police force to avoid a stampede situation like last year, where six people lost their lives.The village expects around 2 lakh visitors on the first day of the jatra with the most crowd expected at night during the ‘homkund’ ritual. A total of 40,000 ‘dhonds’, special devotees of the goddess, are expected to attend the first day of the five-day jatra.“While the process of registration of dhonds is still under way, the temple has already received 20,000 applications and 7,000 dhonds are registered with the temple committee,” said temple committee president Dinanath Gaonkar.From the second day, a large number of devotees visit the village for ‘kaulotsav’, where the goddess visits each house in the village and returns to the temple on the fifth day of the jatra.After last year’s mishap, North Goa collector Ankit Yadav has conducted several site visits and meetings along with officials of police and fire and emergency services to make arrangements for the annual celebration.Shirgao has been divided into six zones and around 1,000 police personnel would be deployed accordingly. A control room will be set up in the middle of the village to keep a watch on the movement of the public.In the temple, separate arrangements are made for the public and the dhondas.Until last year, permission was given to over 400 stalls for the jatra fair, however, this year only 34 stalls have been allowed, mostly selling lime juice and water to dhonds, Gaonkar said.
