Bhubaneswar, June 30: The Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has announced special services for tourists during rath yatra this year. Special seating arrangements and online booking have been introduced for tourists to view the car festival this year onwards.
Seats are available atop Hotel Grand Central for 120 tourists, while preparations to accommodate 150 tourists have also been made at the Jagananth Ballav Mutt for the first time.
Bookings for the seats have already begun. The rath yatra viewing centres will have provision for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks. Drinking water and toilet facilities will also be set in place.
The cost of each seat at the Jagananth Ballav Mutt is Rs 1,999, including both-way travel to the mutt from Bhubaneswar. For those who want to come and go on their own, the charge will be Rs 1,499. The mutt is located around 1.5km from Sri Jagannath Temple.
Local tourist operators, however, are apprehensive that the view from the mutt will not be clear and the temple rituals will not be visible from the top of the mutt.
"If tourist pays so much and are not able to have a proper view of the rituals, there is no point. Tourists coming from across the country will not have a good impression of the state government and our tourism services," said Partha Samal, a tour operator.
Tourists from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, who will avail the car festival viewing service at Hotel Grand Central, will start from their local Panthanivas on June 6, while tourists from Sambalpur will start on the night of July 5 and stay at Panthanivas in Bhubaneswar after their arrival.
The OTDC also plans to recruit guides in sufficient numbers during the festival in Puri.
"We have to restrict the number of tourists as the seats available to view the car festival is very limited in Puri. We do not want to take the risk of increasing the number of visitors as we want to keep everyone safe and let them have a quality experience," said OTDC marketing manager Alok Mishra.
The OTDC has also started online booking from this year. One can visit government websites www.panthanivas.com and www.visitodisha.org for further information and also to book seats.
A senior OTDC official told The Telegraph that seats were getting filled comparatively early this year with the introduction of the online booking facilities.
All the seats at the Hotel Grand Central have been sold out, while only some 40 seats are left at Jagannath Ballav Mutt.
Besides, the OTDC will also provide bus service from Bhubaneswar on the days of rath yatra, bahuda yatra and sunabesa at Rs 600 per person.
