Work on full swing: Carpenters busy in making chariots on Grand Road near the Jagannath temple in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, June 11: The rath yatra will start from Friday with the deva snana purnima when, according to rituals, the deities will come out of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine to take bath.

After the ritual, the deities fall sick and are taken to anasar ghar (sick chamber inside the sanctum sanctorum), and no one will be allowed to get the deities’ glimpse for 14 days. The day before rath yatra, they will be allowed to enter the temple to have a glimpse of the deities — the ritual being known as naba jauban darshan. The deities recover from their 14-day long sickness and travel to their aunt’s house in three chariots.

“The festival of rath yatra begins from deva snana purnima and continue till the end of the bahuda yatra (return car festival). It is almost a one month long festival,” said senior sevayat Ramkurshan Das Mohapatra.

This is the last rath yatra, which is scheduled to begin on June 29, for the present idols. Next year, new idols will replace the old ones — the practice known as Nabakalebar (change of idols), which falls once in 12 to 20 years. Last Nabakalebar was held in 1996.

The state government is making all-out efforts to ensure that this year’s car festival passes off smoothly. “All preparations are being made keeping 2015 car festival (Nabakalebar), which is expected to be attended by 50 lakh people,” said an official.

Security

Nearly 12 lakh devotees are expected assemble to witness rath yatra this year. Security cordon has been tightened around Puri. Director-general of police Prakash Mishra has expressed confidence that there is no attack threat by any terror groups and that the devotees will have a smooth darshan of the deities. Nearly 115 platoons of police and 200 police officers and anti-terrorists squads will be deployed.

While security remains a concern for the state administration, providing a clean environment to lakhs of devotees is another challenge. The co-ordination committee met yesterday. Apart from six ministers, district administration officials and the chief temple administrator reviewed the progress of the works being executed.

Hologram-embossed pass

The temple administration has decided to restrict the entry of VIPs inside the cordon area of the chariots. The number of passes will be limited to 400. To check black-marketing of passes, the administration will put a hologram on the pass itself. “Once the hologram-embossed pass is issued, there will be no question of duplicate passes,” said an official.

There will be a restriction on the entry of devotees to see the pahandee vije (the ritual of bringing the idols in a procession). It will be limited to only 3,000 people, he said.

Health and hygiene

As 12 lakh people are expected to reach the pilgrim town, health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak has asked his department to work on a war-footing scale to do the preparatory arrangements. Nearly 75 fast-aid centres will be opened and an equal number of doctors will be deployed. Besides, 67 ambulances will be at the disposal during the festival. These ambulances will remain under direct control of the police. Additional beds will be made available at government hospitals.

Drainage and sanitation

Non-completion of the drainage work has left the administration worried as if it rained during the nine-day rath yatra, life might be thrown out of gear. The drains have not yet been de-silted. To construct new drains, roads have been dug up at various places. Municipality officials and drainage division officials keep on blaming each other for waterlogging. The administration has convened a meeting on June 13 to review the steps.

Puri generates solid wastes of around 100 metric tonnes, but during occasions such as rath yatra, bahuda yatra and suna besha, it exceeds 200 metric tonnes. The wastes generated during rath yatra include mostly shoes left behind, plastic bottles, polythene pouches, leaflets of private companies, coconut shells and flowers. Puri district administration with the municipality’s help plans to engage more than 200 sweepers for this purpose.

Drinking water will be provided through 200 temporary tube wells, 20 tankers and 552 permanent tube wells.

Power supply

Erratic power supply to Puri and sudden power cuts remain a major problem. The state administration is in touch with the Central Electricity Supply Utility to provide uninterrupted power to the town. The company has promised to provide 24X7 power supply to Puri during rath.

Traffic

The district administration has decided that the vehicle from Bhubaneswar will reach Puri via Sakhigopal but during the return journey they will have to take the Konark road.

Telecom

BSNL and other telecom companies have assured the state administration to provide quality service to the domestic customers as well as visitors during rath.