Heavy Rain, Slippery Roads at Bhimashankar: Officials Issue Safety Appeal to Devotees

Pune, 17th August 2026: The annual Shravan pilgrimage at Bhimashankar, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, has begun, with a steady increase in the number of devotees visiting the temple. Anticipating a heavy turnout on all four Shravan Mondays and other public holidays, the temple trust and district administration have made arrangements for crowd management and devotees’ safety. The police have also deployed additional personnel in the area.

The Shravan month began on August 13 this year and will continue until September 10. The four Shravan Mondays fall on August 17, 24 and 31, and September 7, when a large number of devotees are expected to visit Bhimashankar. To prevent traffic congestion, parking facilities have been arranged at four locations.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has made 38 large buses available to ferry devotees from the parking areas to the temple. The buses will operate between parking lots 1 to 4 and the Bhimashankar bus stand. Barricades have also been installed around the temple premises to regulate the movement of devotees and facilitate orderly and safe darshan.

Around 250 police personnel and 100 home guards have been deployed between the parking areas and the temple during the pilgrimage. The deployment includes a sub-divisional police officer, a police inspector, four assistant police inspectors, 20 police sub-inspectors, an RCP team and a dog squad. The police will focus on traffic management, crowd control and the safety of devotees.

To ensure the safety of drinking water, the gram panchayat and health department have distributed TCL to hotel operators and local residents. Loudspeakers have also been installed at various locations to provide instructions and guidance to devotees.

Assistant Police Inspector Sagar Pawar of Ghodegaon police station has urged devotees to park their vehicles only in designated parking lots and avoid parking along roadsides. He also warned that strict action would be taken against anyone arriving at the pilgrimage site after consuming alcohol.

With heavy rain continuing in the Bhimashankar region, roads and walking paths have become slippery. Ambegaon-Junnar Sub-Divisional Officer Archana Tambe has appealed to devotees to exercise caution while visiting the temple and avoid taking unnecessary risks.