Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday announced the upgrade of Puri Municipality to a Municipal Corporation, a move that comes ahead of the Bahuda Yatra on Saturday.

The announcement was made hours after a BJD delegation met Governor Haribabu Kambhampati, seeking a judicial probe into the Rath Yatra stampede and pointing to alleged lapses in crowd management. The Opposition party also criticised the delay in the reconstitution of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, which it said had affected preparations and rituals for the annual event.

Majhi said the decision to upgrade the civic body was driven by the growing population and increasing number of visitors to the holy city. “A robust mechanism is required to provide basic amenities. Therefore, we have decided to convert the existing municipality into a municipal corporation. The process will begin on Saturday,” he said.

The new corporation will include Puri city and adjoining panchayats. With this, the number of municipal corporations in Odisha will rise from five to six.

Majhi also announced a set of development projects, including a world-class Jagannath Museum, an auditorium with 300 seats, and a daily light and sound show in Hindi, Bengali and English based on “Jagannath culture”.

“The Shree Jagannath Museum Library and Jagannath Culture Research Centre will showcase the rich heritage of the Jagannath tradition. Our goal is to make Puri the top religious tourism centre in the country,” Majhi said.

Earlier in the day, the BJD delegation told the governor that the Rath Yatra this year was marred by “unprecedented mismanagement, chaos and stampede”. They said the Nandighosh Rath of Lord Jagannath was pulled at 7.45pm, in violation of long-standing rituals.