The entire stretch of the world famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here has come under security blanket as elaborate arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the celestial wedding on Sunday.
The police officers held meetings, inspected security aspects and deployment of police personnel inside and outside the temple. “All our officers are in position from today morning and would be monitoring the situation round-the-clock,” a top official said.
With a huge turnout of devotees expected to witness the celestial wedding, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department had put up big screens at six locations. For the wedding, scheduled to take place at 8.35 a.m., entry would be permitted to only devotees with valid passes from the west and south towers.
Similarly, the traffic police have issued three different colour passes for vehicles to be parked in Avani, Masi and Veli streets respectively. Apart from surveillance cameras fitted for security purposes, the specially-erected watch towers at more than five points would be manned by personnel. Sniffer dogs have been deployed and the police were fully geared to handle the crowd tomorrow, which is expected to be there till Sunday night. The temple authorities said that they had issued tickets online and thus there was no scope for any duplication. A little over 10,000 persons can be seated at the venue to witness the celestial wedding, the officers added.
As a part of the annual ritual, devotees would be served feast soon after the celestial wedding was over. This year, the volunteers have planned to offer variety rice. On Saturday, the volunteers including women were engaged in cutting vegetables at the Sethupathi School campus, they told reporters.
