Lakhs of devotees witness suna besha ceremony in front of the Jagannath temple in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

It was a moment of emotional reunion when 21-year-old Madhav found his father, Sibu Maharana, who had gone missing in the bahuda crowd a few days ago. Tears streamed down Maharana’s cheeks as his son hugged him tightly near the Jagannath temple here.

The father-son duo had arrived in Puri with over a dozen people from their village in Jajpur.

“We had come to the temple for a darshan of the Lord. Suddenly my father was lost in the crowd. I started panicking since he is old and ailing. After six hours of frantic search, we requested the district authorities to make an announcement on the microphone asking him to come near the temple. After some time, we found him,” said Madhav.

Maharana fought his tears as he hugged his son. “I was really worried and did not know what to do. The announcement came as a relief to me. Although it was hot and I was thirsty, I resolved not to take a drop of water until I saw my son,” he said.

This was not an isolated case. Nearly 50,000 people had gone missing on bahuda yatra (return journey of the Lord Jagannath and His siblings to the main temple). But adequate arrangement by the district public relation department ensured that all of them were reunited with their families.

To track down missing people, the district administration had set up eight units in different parts of Puri.

Sarat Chandra Sahu, an official posted at one of the units, said: “All the eight centres received nearly 50,000 calls to trace missing persons in the last three days. This mostly happens during rath yatra and bahuda yatra. Since we are expecting nearly eight lakh devotees to be in Puri for suna besha on Tuesday, the number of missing cases is bound to be high.”

However, Sahu admitted that making announcements continuously is a tough task.

“But the look of joy on the faces of the missing people when they are reunited with their families gives you immense happiness and satisfaction,” Sahu said.

The best moment for the district public relation office came when they traced a five-year-old boy, Papu, near Medical Square.

“The kid was unable to speak properly. We found out that he had come with his family from Berhampur to be a part of the rath yatra celebrations. They were staying in one of the mutts. Papu had sneaked out of the place and lost his way. After repeated announcements, a devotee noticed him and brought him down to the information centre set up near the Puri town police station,” said Sahu.