The inland water transport department started plying two special ferries from Lachit ghat in Machkhowa here to Umananda temple on Saturday for devotees during Ambubachi Mela.

An official in the IWT department said, “Ambubachi Mela has always attracted a large crowd and, this year too, lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the city. Umananda temple receives massive footfall of devotees during this mela. This year, the department has arranged additional ferries to make Umananda a hotspot tourist destination. Two ferries, Baghbor and Nambor, carried around 1,800 devotees from Lachit ghat on Saturday. Temporary bridges have been constructed so that passengers can board the ferries without any hassle. Officials of the State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the ferries for passengers’ convenience.”

“The first ferry left Lachit ghat for Umananda temple at 10am with 200 passengers. The ferry service is available till 4pm. From Sunday, the services will start at 9am,” he said. A ferry ride costs Rs 20.

At present, passengers can take ferries from two ghats —Kachari ghat in Uzan Bazar and Lachit ghat — to Umananda temple. While one ferry is available from Kachari ghat round the year, the IWT department started an additional ferry service on Thursday. “Altogether four passenger ferries are plying on the Brahmaputra,” he added.

The four-day Ambubachi Mela started on Saturday with the closing of doors of Kamakhya temple and will conclude when the doors re-open on June 26 morning. During this period, the goddess is believed to undergo her menstrual cycle.

The Kamrup district administration has allotted more ASTC buses to transport devotees from their camps to the base gate of Kamakhya temple during Ambubachi Mela.