Bhubaneswar, July 21: After Lord Jagannath and His siblings were taken into the Sri Gundicha temple in Puri last night, thousands of devotees queued up to have a darshan of the deities today.

The deities were taken into the temple from the chariots in goti pahandi, a ceremonial procession. Devotees in large numbers gathered in front of the Mausima temple to see the new idols.

"Seeing the deities at the adap mandap in the Gundicha temple gives immense pleasure. To see someone at his birthplace is like revisiting one's own native place. Besides, these are the new idols. It is wonderful to have their darshan," said Samrudha Sahu, a devotee.

Besides, the abhada bhog (cooked food) of the deities was also prepared today after a break of few days. According to the tradition, the abhada bhog is not prepared since the day the rath yatra begins.

Maharanas have started repairing the chariots, as part of the regular check-up.

An official of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration said it was a normal process before the chariots were turned to face south.

Several voluntary organisations, along with the Puri Municipality and the tourism department, have started an awareness campaign to make Saradhabali in front of the temple polythene free. They aim to achieve their objective by 2017. They have taken Saradhabali as a pilot project. The organisations have been using 100 volunteers every day to conduct awareness drives to educate people and street vendors about non-use of polythene. "We have the concept of rent-a-bag, and we provide these bags to vendors and people during our drive. We will deploy 3,000 volunteers during this period to create awareness. We are hopeful that Saradhabali would be free of polythene shortly, and then we would take up other areas in the town to make Puri free of polythene," said Yogabrata Kar, secretary of Barefoot, a voluntary organisation.

The organisers hoped that the district and local administration would not only take part in the awareness campaign, but also impose a ban on use of polythene in Puri.