Shravani Mela has started in Deoghar  along with its part in Sultanganj.  On Day 1, over 20,000 kanwarias arrived at the Baidyanath Temple to offer prayer to the Sri Ravaneshwar Mahadev.
Bihar deputy chief minister Shushil Kumar Modi inaugurated the mela at Sultanganj in Bhagalpur where all devotees initially gather and collect holy water from the Ganga. They trek from Sultanganj to the Deoghar temple (a stretch of nearly 105 km) on foot carrying holy water and chanting “Bol Bum” all through the route. Over 90% of the journey (from Sultanganj to the shrine) falls in Bihar’s Bhagalpur, Munger and Banka districts. The journey in Jharkhand starts from Jharkhand Gate in Mohanpur block.
Over a crore pilgrims from across the country including neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan reach here to pay their obeisance to Lord Shiva.
Devouts initially gather at Sultanganj to collect holy water from river Ganges at Sultanganj ghat where the Ganga becomes Uttarvahini (river turns flowing towards north). They trek nearly 105 km on foot carrying holy water from the Ganga chanting ‘bol bum’ all through the route. They pay obeisance to Lord Shiva by pouring holy water on Shivalinga.
Deoghar deputy commissioner Rahul Purwar said the district administration had made elaborate security arrangement. The entire mela has been divided into three zones – one in the kanwaria route and second and third in the shrine and Deoghar urban area respectively. Munda had on Monday directed the district administration to ensure proper power supply and good medical care to kanwarias.
“A total of 18 camps have been established across the mela area to provide administrative assistance, 14 police camps to provide security, 23 medical camps to assist devotees if they fall sick. A total of 20 camps have been set up to ensure uninterrupted power supply, and seven camps will be coordinating with the agencies to help the devotees get drinking water and sanitary service,” said senior district administration official Sanjay Kumar.
The district administration has erected hundreds of pandals and equipped it with loud speakers and other equipment. All the camps started functioning on Tuesday. A total of 325 magistrates and 575 assistant staff have been deployed to monitor the camps.
A junior engineer of the irrigation department at Sultanganj said: “We are keeping a constant watch on the river’s water level because it has started to rise. Another lot of 20,000 sandbags has been kept ready to construct makeshift stairs in case the water level rises further.”
The mela witnesses quite a few cases of crime every year. Around 4,500 police personnel, including home guards led by 500 police officers, are deployed along with five IPS officers. The administration has constituted permanent, foot and mobile patrolling parties which will work in coordination with the support camps to check criminal activities. A number of women patrolling parties has also been deployed to help the women kanwarias. Magistrates have been deployed inside the shrine to handle the crowd in an organized fashion.
The Sadar Hospital Deoghar has been put on alert. Doctors have been asked to be present throughout at the hospital.
R.K. Gupta, divisional railway manager, Malda division, inspected Sultanganj railway station on Saturday. He asked officers to keep the station premises clean and arrange drinking water for the pilgrims.
“For the first time this year, we will display maps of the Sultanganj township and other information related to the month-long festival at the railway station,” Gupta added.