RANCHI, July 2, 2013: The 2013 Shravani Mela at Deoghar will be unique for disabled pilgrims, who always fail to offer prayers at the temple due to huge crowds. The district administration has developed a unique system and dedicated it to people, like disabled ones, who cannot pour water inside the sanctum at the Baba Dham temple.

The Argha system will be opened for pilgrims a week before the month-long festival begins on July 23. "Preference would be given to disabled pilgrims and women, aged persons and children," said a district administration official. Authorities have constructed a chamber outside the sanctum at the temple and a pipe is connected from the chamber to the original sanctum.

A Shiva Linga has been installed at the chamber (outside) and the holy water poured on the linga at the chamber will be carried through the pipe to the original Shiva Linga. The system is aimed to help devotees avoid suffocation during heavy rush.

Deoghar deputy commissioner Rahul Purwar said for the temple will now have a facility for the disabled and the physically weak.

"Separate queues and other methods of crowd management have helped pilgrims in the past, but the new system will be a blessing for such people," said Purwar. The system was tested during Ram Navami on April 19 and was hugely successful.

The system has been developed with consent of the Panda Dharma Rakchhini Sabha (PDRS), the principal body of the priests of the shrine.

PDRS has also said that as long as the water will go through pipes to the Jyotirlinga everything is smooth. During Shravani Mela, devotees form over 15km queues and wait for over 30 hours to pour water on the Shiva Linga. "It is not possible for a disabled pilgrim or those physically weak to do so," said Kaliya Panda, general secretary of the PDRS.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 2, 2013.