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The terrorist attack on the Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, has reduced the inflow of pilgrims into the holy town of Gaya in Bihar for the fortnight-long Pitrapaksha mela, according to Sadanand Guru, a panda (priest) of the Vishnupad temple.
According to Bhital Panda, who is in charge of pilgrims from Gujarat during the annual mela, hundreds of pilgrims have cancelled their train reservations following the terrorist attack.
In the Pitrapaksha mela, pilgrims come to Gaya to make ritual offerings for the salvation of their ancestors' souls.
Till Monday, nearly 300,000 pilgrims had arrived in Gaya to offer pindadaan. This is half the number expected by the pandas. Less pilgrims mean less earnings for the 250 Gayawal pandas. Many of them earn their entire year's income in this single fortnight.
Another panda said the drought that had hit most of India this year had affected the number of pilgrims visiting the holy place, and the attack on Akshardham only made matters worse.
In another incident related to the Pitrapaksha Mela, the police deployed for security in Gaya town busted an inter-state gang of women pickpockets as well as luggage lifters, who were targeting the pilgrims gathered to offer pindadaan.
District Superintendent of Police Ravindran Shankaran said his force arrested 44 women pickpockets, including 23 from Patna, 17 from Siwan district, and four from Gorakhpur in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. All of them were sent to the Gaya central jail.
A police official of the Dhanush mobile unit said the gang was busted after they captured one Munni Devi. "When we caught Munni Devi, about half-a-dozen women members of the gang started fleeing near the temple. We caught them after a chase."
Initial interrogation of the pickpockets followed the arrest of more members near the mela site. The police raided some places in Gaya town to pick up the remaining members of the gang. About a dozen items belonging to some pilgrims, including footwear, and Rs 12,000 in cash were also recovered.
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