Bhubaneswar June 21: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will visit Puri tomorrow to supervise the overall preparedness of the government for smooth management of the upcoming rath yatra, which is scheduled to begin from June 29.

The visit assumes significance as palpable tension still continues over the high court’s order, which accepted the recommendation of the Puri Shankaracahya to the Jagannath temple administration that devotees cannot climb the chariots and touch the deities during the rath yatra. The state government has also announced that it would abide by the decision of the high court and initiate steps to debar devotees to mount the chariots.

A section of servitors, whose service is essential for smooth conduct of the car festival, are aggrieved over the development. Though they had earlier threatened to move Supreme Court to challenge the high court’s order, today they decided to co-operate with the administration at present to ensure that the rath yatra passes off peacefully.

Servitor Jagannath Swain Das Mohapatra said: “We had argued for the cause of devotees. As the high court has already taken a stand on debarring devotees from climbing the chariots, we will co-operate and ensure that the car festival passes peacefully. We have not yet decided our future course of action.”

The chairman of the newly-constituted committee, formed following an all-party meeting on June 18 to resolve the contentious issue of whether to allow devotees on the chariots during the rath yatra, Maheswar Mohanty, told The Telegraph today that the committee would talk with all stakeholders to ensure that there was no problem during the rath yatra. “We will ensure that there is no problem,” he said.

In yet another development, Shree Jagannath Surakhya Samiti, an organisation working for the protection of the culture of Shree Jagananth, today held a demonstration at PMG Square demanding immediate implementation of the high court order. Later, a delegation met governor S.C. Jamir and submitted a memorandum to this effect.