GUWAHATI: The annual Ambubachi Mela at the Nilachal Hills here is usually a congregation of millions of devotees from all over the globe. However, this year, less number of devotees and tourists may turn up due to the devastating flash floods in north India. Last year, the festival hosted at least four lakh pilgrims.

According to the Kamakhya Debutter Board that arranges the festival every year to commemorate the goddess Kamakhya's annual menstrual cycle and fertility, the number of devotees from north India is likely to go down this year. "It's a massive disaster in Uttarakhand and we believe that it is going to affect the number of people who come from the northern part of the country. Every year several pilgrims come from Delhi,Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, this time we guess they are not coming in large numbers," said NK Sarma, secretary of the board. The temple board has made all possible arrangement for the four-day festival. "We are ready any kind of eventuality. Security is our top priority. We have put six CCTV cameras in addition to our existing ones," Sarma added. With these the total numbers of CCTVs maintained by the Debutter Board reached 72. There would be at least another four CCTVs of the city police at the hills during the festival.