10 Lakh people expected at Puri for Rath Yatra Festival

The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings starts in Puri in Odisha on Wednesday with authorities expecting about 10 lakh people to take part in the nine-day chariot festival.

Security has been strengthened across Puri town for the Rath Yatra.

"Multi-layer security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the festival. CCTVs have been installed at various locations to keep a tab on the people," said Director General of Police KB Singh.

There is heavy security around the three chariots and Grand Road, the sea beach, the railway station and the bus station.

Air surveillance and land and air patrolling will be intensified, KB Singh said.

The visitors would be informed from time to time about traffic management through social media and Puri police administration website, senior police officer Soumendra Priyadarshi said.

Police and other personnel have been deployed to guide the public.

Sri Jagannath Temple Administration has announced it will provide an accident insurance cover of Rs. five lakh, effective from July 5 to 17, to each person taking part in the Rath Yatra.

Final touches are being given to the three chariot Taladhwaja of Lord Balabhadra, Nandighosh of Lord Jagannath and Darpadalana of Devi Subhadra which will be pulled to the Gundicha temple here on Wednesday.

The deities will be worshipped for seven days at the temple.

East Coast Railway will run special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers for the festival.

"Railways have planned to facilitate pilgrims with reserved 'class accommodation,' for the trains leaving from its jurisdiction towards Puri and vice versa, apart from the special trains from neighbouring states," said a statement of the Railways.

Newsletter

Prime Minister Modi inaugurates Atal Tunnel - longest tunnel above 10000 ft

Ladakh: The Prime Minister today inaugurated the Atal Tunnel and took the inaugural drive through in the 9km long tunnel...

Orissa High Court Order regarding migrant workers entry into Orissa put on hold by the Supreme Court

The Orissa High Court order to permit the entry of migrant workers only if they tested Negative for COVID-19 was put on...

Coronavirus Lockdown - First Flights To Bring Back Indians Stranded Abroad Land In Kerala

On Monday, the central government announced plans to begin a massive repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad, dubbe...

Reacting to Trump's retaliation threat India allows Hydroxychloroquine export

In a move after Trump's threat to retaliate if India fails to send medicines, India has lifted ban of export of ess...

All Domestic Passenger Flights Suspended from Midnight Tomorrow

The operations of all domestic schedule commercial airlines will stop operations from 23.59pm on March 24, a government...

Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian plane, blames ‘human error’

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, sa...