Police were deployed in full strength at the site throughout the day, following threats by Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal activists to pull down the wall constructed by the Administration, which they claimed "blocked" the entry to the Nath Satsang Sabha Shri Sidh Baba Balak Nath temple in Sector 31.

Last week the Administration had constructed a wall converging the site of the Exhibition Centre. Temple authorities are resisting this wall as it blocks the present entry to the temple from the northern side fronting Dakshin Marg. The Administration points out that a metalled road already existed to provide an entry to the temple from the southern side.

As about 25 persons, including Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena activists, marched in procession toward the temple, a heavy police force deployed at the site stopped them. As many as 18 activists courted arrest after they were denied entry to the temple when they attempted to go in from the Dakshin Marg side.

As tensions at the site rose, police cordoned off the area. Vehicular traffic was not allowed beyond the Hallomajra roundabout from one side and the Sector 32 Medical College roundabout on the other end. Traffic was also not allowed beyond the Sector 31 colony. Several senior UT officials, including police officials, visited the site to assess the situation.

The diversion of traffic from 11:30 a.m. onwards till late in the evening, led to major traffic chaos on various roads around the site. Traffic entering and leaving the city from the Ambala side was also largely affected; vehicles caught in the traffic jam resulting from the diversion took as much as half an hour to crawl through the snarl.

Meanwhile, tension in the area continues to mount as temple authorities and the Administration both remain adamant. While the Administration says that entry to the temple will be allowed only from the southern side and not from the Dakshin Marg side, temple authorities reject the closure of the Dakshin Marg entry and say it is "unacceptable to the devotees".

"We need some 10 to 15 feet for the gate and we have met officials in this regard," said Mahatma Dila Ram who identified himself as a sewak of the temple. "They are stopping devotees from going to the temple," he added.

While Dila Ram claimed that this land was shamlat land and had not been acquired, the Administration has clarified that the temple, being an encroachment, is unauthorisedly constructed on government land.

According to an Administration press release, the revenue records and the pre-acquisition survey also bear out that no temple existed at the site. The survey carried out in 1986 by the Estate Office in respect of unauthorised religious structures in the City also revealed that at the present site of the temple only a small residential room existed, which the Administration claims has been expanded subsequently, with claims being made that this was an old temple.

The Admn has also offered an alternate site but the temple management has not accepted it.