Ayodhya: In view of the massive rush of devotees at the newly-inaugurated Ram Temple in Ayodhya, bus services from Lucknow to the temple town have been suspended temporarily. A day after the grand Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the temple, the Ram Mandir was thrown to public on January 23 which saw a huge influx of devotees at the temple. The decision has been taken by the authorities to manage the crowd arriving at the town. 

Devotees started queuing up outside the temple from 3am on Day 1 for Ram Lalla’s darshan. Around 5 lakh devotees have been estimated to have turned up at the temple yesterday amid harsh winters and out of them only 3 lakh of them could offer prayers while the rest kept waiting for their turn, officials said. 

According to sources, over a lakh visitors are expected at the temple every day. The visuals from Ayodhya this morning was no different from yesterday as a huge crowd of devotees gathered outside the temple today as well. Heavy security has been deployed at the temple to manage the situation.  

To ensure nobody faces any problem at the temple, around 8,000 security personnel from the Uttar Pradesh police, Rapid Action Force (RAF), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) are deployed at the temple. Eight magistrates are in charge of different spots in the temple. Praveen Kumar, Inspector-General of Police in Ayodhya, has appealed to people to plan their visit after two weeks. Principal Home Secretary and Uttar Pradesh Special ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar are also present at the temple to overview the situation.