{"id":16251,"date":"2023-02-04T16:41:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T08:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=16251"},"modified":"2023-02-04T16:41:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T08:41:59","slug":"thaipusam-over-300000-people-expected-to-visit-batu-caves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=16251","title":{"rendered":"Thaipusam: Over 300,000 people expected to visit Batu Caves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4<\/strong> &#8212; Over 300,000 visitors\u00a0are\u00a0expected\u00a0to throng Batu Caves\u00a0in conjunction\u00a0with the\u00a0Thaipusam\u00a0celebration, starting this evening until tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting Selangor police chief Datuk S. Sasikala Devi said this was after the management of temples in Batu Caves informed that&nbsp;they were expecting more&nbsp;visitors when the chariots arrived this evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince yesterday, many visitors have been patronising temples in&nbsp;Batu Caves and the number is expected to increase tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo far,\u00a0the situation in Batu Caves is under control\u00a0despite\u00a0traffic\u00a0congestion in the area,\u201d\u00a0he told a press conference after checking on the preparations for the Thaipusam festival today.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-1024x562.png\" alt=\"thaipusam\" class=\"wp-image-16252\" width=\"585\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-1024x562.png 1024w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-768x422.png 768w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-182x100.png 182w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-350x192.png 350w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-800x439.png 800w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png 1166w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, he said some 1,888 police personnel would be deployed&nbsp;to ensure that the Thaipusam celebration in Batu Caves goes on smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sasikala also advised the visitors not to park their vehicles by the roadside as it could&nbsp;obstruct the procession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile,&nbsp;Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Azmi Abu Kassim, in a statement today said a total of 682 police officers and personnel had been deployed to facilitate&nbsp;the&nbsp;chariot procession from the Sri Maha Mariammam temple at Jalan Tun HS Lee to the Subramaniam temple in Batu Caves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said&nbsp;following that several roads in the city&nbsp;were closed and traffic diversions were activated beginning last night until 4 am today, as well as from 6 pm to midnight on Monday (Feb 6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the affected roads are Jalan Tun H.S.Lee, Jalan Sultan, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Jalan Tun Perak\/Pudu, Jalan Leboh Ampang, Jalan Ampang, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Jalan Dang Wangi, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Sri Amar, Jalan Tun Razak and&nbsp;Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe public is advised to plan their journey and use\u00a0alternative routes to avoid\u00a0getting stuck\u00a0in traffic congestion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also urged those with information on any criminal activity to contact the Kuala Lumpur&nbsp;police hotline at <a href=\"tel:03-2115%209999\">03-2115 9999<\/a>&nbsp;or any nearest police station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/\">NMT<\/a> as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/news.php?id=2161791\">Bernama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 &#8212; Over 300,000 visitors\u00a0are\u00a0expected\u00a0to throng Batu Caves\u00a0in conjunction\u00a0with the\u00a0Thaipusam\u00a0celebration, starting this&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",1166,640,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-300x165.png",300,165,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-768x422.png",640,352,true],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM-1024x562.png",640,351,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",1166,640,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",1166,640,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",1166,640,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",1024,562,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-4.41.03-PM.png",720,395,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=20\" rel=\"category\">Local<\/a>","tag_info":"Local","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16253,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16251\/revisions\/16253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}