Devotees throng Himachal temples with onset of Navratri

SHIMLA: Crowd of devotees from across the region thronged temples in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday, the first day of the nine-day-long Navratri festival.

The majority of the pilgrims, who visited the place, came from the regions of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi.

The popular temples of Naina Devi in Bilaspur; Chintpurni in Una; Baba Balak Nath in Hamirpur; Brajeshwari Devi, Jwalaji and Chamunda Devi in Kangra; and Bhimakali and Hateshwari in Shimla district witnessed a huge rush since early morning.

“We have arrangements for 20,000 devotees every day,” an official at the Naina Devi shrine told IANS over the phone.

Security has been beefed up along with the installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to manage the crowd in all the prominent shrines, a senior police official told IANS.

The Navratri festival will conclude on April 17.