AHMEDABAD, July 12:
The 144th annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath was held here on Monday without the usual festive spirit and crowds and culminated in four hours, instead of the usual 12 hours, amid heavy security as the general public was not allowed to participate in it in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Curfew was imposed since early morning on the entire procession route to stop people from gathering on roads.
The journey of the chariots of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra, began from the 400-year-old Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area at around 7 am and returned by 11 am, an official said.
After the chariots came back to the temple, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, who supervised the entire event, announced lifting of the curfew.
Instead of the usual cavalcade of around 100 trucks, decked up elephants, akhadas and singing troupes, this year’s procession included only three chariots, pulled by around 100 youths from the Khalasi community, and four to five other vehicles.
Before the idols of the deities were placed on the chariots for the procession, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the temple at around 4 am and took part in the ‘mangla aarti’.
The chariots left the temple after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy CM Nitin Patel performed ‘Pahind Vidhi’- a symbolic ritual of cleaning the way for the ‘raths’ (chariots).
The procession moved through the city’s eastern parts under the watchful eyes of around 23,000 armed police personnel, including nine companies of the Central Armed Police Forces, officials said.
This time, the procession moved very fast and covered the entire 19-km route in just four hours, as planned by the authorities, they said.
Earlier, the procession used to come back to the temple after covering a distance of 19 km in about 12 hours, which included an hour-long lunch break at Saraspur.
This time, there was no lunch break and the chariots stayed in Saraspur only for 10 minutes, the temple authorities said.
The police also regulated traffic on various bridges to stop people from reaching near the procession route.
The government had also appealed to people to watch live telecast of the rath yatra on television.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak last year, lakhs of people used to gather along the route on ‘Ashadhi Beej’ every year to catch a glimpse of the decorated elephants and tableaux moving around in some 100 trucks.
Last year, only a symbolic rath yatra was organised in the premises of the Lord Jagannath temple after the Gujarat High Court denied permission for the usual public procession due to the pandemic.
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