Odisha bans Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath

In 2020, the Rath Yatra was held sans devotees for first time in its centuries-long history

The Odisha government on Thursday announced a ban on the Lord Jagannath’s much-awaited annual nine-day Rath Yatra festival at all places in the state except Puri.

Puri is the prime abode of Lord Jagannath. It is here Lord Jagannath and His two siblings — Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra — are worshipped in a gigantic temple called Srimandir.

During the Rath Yatra, the deities of Srimandir visit Srigundicha Temple, located at a distance of 2 kilometres. Lakhs of devotees from across the country and abroad gather at Puri during this time to see the wonderful spectacle of the deities riding the colourful chariots.

The decision to ban Rath Yatra was taken as the state is struggling hard to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. Odisha Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena made the major announcement saying that the festival which begins from July 12 will be held in Puri with strict adherence to guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court.

In 2020, the Rath festival which is also known as Car Festival, was held sans devotees for the first time in its centuries-long history because of Covid-19 situation.

“Odisha government has always given supreme importance to the safety and well-being of the public. With the second wave of Covid pandemic continuing and threat of a possible third surge looming, public gathering during the grand festival which attracts lakhs of devotees from all around the world needs to be curbed. This apart, since it is a mass festival celebrated with much fanfare across

the

Odisha and outside, restrictions on public participation in the celebration are necessary,” Jena said during a press briefing.

He added that servitors testing (RTPCR) Covid negative or those fully vaccinated will be allowed to participate in the rituals

As per the Supreme Court’s guidelines, only 500 servitors will be allowed to pull each chariot during the festival

Curfew will be clamped in Puri for the festival and only essential and emergency services will be allowed.

Vehicular movement

to and from restricted

Yatra.

Direct live telecast of the festival will be facilitated to interested media outlets and broadcasters by the I&PR department of Odisha government

At all other Lord Jagannath shrines across Odisha, only rituals will be conducted within the premises of the temples and the public will not be allowed to participate, the DC informed.

Meanwhile, the Odisha police on Thursday launched a special cell in Bhubaneswar to deal with cases related to missing and kidnapping of minor

Puri will be during Rath children.

Currently, the cell headed by an Assistant Commissioner of police (ACP) rank officer is functioning on trial basis and will actively operate once the pandemic situation is over, said Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Umashankar Dash.

Sources said around 800 cases related to missing of minor children are pending at police stations under the BhubaneswarCuttack Commissionerate police.

“At a review meeting, 800 minor girl missing cases were found registered at different police stations.

In view of this, we have launched a special cell headed by an ACP with an inspector and two subinspectors as members to deal with these cases. The cell has already rescued 30 minor girls from different areas in the state,” he added.

The opposition parties in Odisha and civil society organisations have been demanding since long for the constitution of a special cell to trace out the missing children.

They contended that the special cell was a better mechanism than the special drives launched from time to time for rescue of the missing children.