Craftsmen in Bhubaneswar give finishing touches to Lord Lingaraj’s Rukuna Rath. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, April 16: The district and Lingaraj temple administrations are taking steps to arrange for the smooth conduct of the annual Rukuna rath yatra to be held on April 18 on the occasion of Ashokastami.

In a preparatory meeting held at the block office today in which officials of various government departments, non-government organisations and priests were present, collector, Khurda district Rupa Mishra said the chariot had would be ready by tomorrow. She urged the priests to carry out activities according to the schedule.

“For smooth conduct of the rath yatra, we have sought the co-operation of the three nijogs (groups of priests) and stick to the schedule. We have scheduled the pahandi to be held between 12.30pm and 1.30pm. The chariot pulling will start from 4pm. It will reach Rameswar temple by 7.30pm,” said Mishra.

Alati will start at 4am and sahan mela darshan (entry of devotees for auspicious view) will be between 4.30am and 6am. The neta utsav (flag ceremony) will be done on the previous day, with the chariot being purified and washed with holy water from the Maricha kund.

This water will be auctioned tomorrow night.

Nodal officers of various departments were asked to be present near the temple on the day. A control room would keep tabs on all the activities.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has been asked to take care of sanitation around the temple, while the roads and buildings department will repair the road on the rath yatra route. The Public Health Engineering Organisation will take care of the water requirements while the fire services would look into preventing fire related mishaps. NGOs will sprinkle water on the devotees and attend to the sick.

“We expect over one lakh people to gather and take part in this car festival. We will take all possible steps to ensure that devotees have no trouble taking darshan (auspicious view),” said the collector, adding that over 12 platoons of police would be on duty. “All approach roads to the temple will be blocked from various places and devotees will be allowed to walk. After 12.30pm, the rath route will be closed to vehicular traffic,” said a senior police officer.

For the first time, the district administration had decided to felicitate one priest or ordinary person associated with the activities at Lingaraj temple. This year, priest Binayak Badumakadam was felicitated with the Sri Lingaraj Samman.