But the anomaly is that wheelchair-bound limbless devotees can't have access to the Lord,' said Ravi Tripathy, a handicapped and disabled rights activist.

The rights forums have also demanded ramps in the shrine.

Pujapanda said wheelchairs from outside would not be allowed. The temple authorities will provide the wheelchairs.

Several disability rights groups had last month given a memorandum to the temple authorities to make facilities for the handicapped. A group of disabled has also decided to enter the temple on wheelchairs on Oct 2 -- the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi -- as a mark of protest.

'A disabled person often faces problems if he or she wishes to enter the temple. A handicapped devotee is often taunted by the temple servitors. Though the temple claims to have provisions to carry disabled devotees through temple servitors, I being a woman would not like to be carried by male servitors,' said Shruti Mohapatra, the convener of the Women's Cell of Disabled People's International.