Tripura CM to inaugurate three-day Diwali festival at Maa Tripura Sundari temple

Agartala, Oct 20 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha will inaugurate the Diwali festival and mela at Maa Tripura Sundari temple in Gomati district on Monday evening, an official said.

The temple is one of the 51 'shakti pithas', holy shrines for Hindus.

MPs Biplab Kumar Deb, Kriti Devi Debbarma, BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee, Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath and Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy will be present during the inaugural programme, said MLA Abhishek Debroy, who is also the head of the mela organising committee, on Monday.

Debroy said the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has announced two special trains - Agartala-Dharmanagar–Agartala and Agartala-Sabroom-Agartala for pilgrims to visit Maa Tripura Sundari temple.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Gomati, Kiran Kumar, said all necessary steps have been taken to maintain law and order during the three-day festivities.

As part of the security measures, 37 CCTV cameras have been installed and 10 watch towers set up around the temple complex for round-the-clock surveillance, he said.

Forces from the district police, CRPF and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) will be deployed to manage the large crowd expected during the three-day event.

The SP said regular vehicle checking and intensified patrolling would also be carried out to prevent any untoward incident. PTI PS RG