Odisha: Puri temple starts preparing for Rath Yatra with caution

BHUBANESWAR: With the Rath Yatra a little over a week away, the Shree Jagannath Temple Aministration (SJTA) on Friday started the preparations for the state’s biggest festival amid the pandemic. The 12th century shrine body, which is planning to observe the festival without the participation of devotees and impose some more restrictions this time, held a meeting with a group of servitors.
The servitors sounded optimistic about the Rath Yatra despite the threat of Covid-19. “Our discussions revolved around the Rath Yatra preparations. We assured the temple administration of the timely completion of rituals inside the temple and on the chariots outside the shrine. While the government will take a final decision on how to celebrate Rath Yatra this time, we assume that devotees will be barred from taking part in the festival owing to the pandemic,” Madhab Pujapanda, a servitor and a member of the temple managing committee, said after the meeting.
Harekrushna Pujapanda, another servitor, who attended the meeting, said the chariot-pulling exercise was also taken up for discussion. “We can understand that social distancing may be compromised during the Pahandi procession of the deities and the pulling of chariots. But the chariots can be pulled by servitors and police personnel after subjecting them to Covid-19 test. Since we have very little time left now, the government should finalize the modalities,” he added.
In the evening, the SJTA’s chief administrator Krishan Kumar, district collector (Puri) Balwant Singh and superintendent of police Uma Shankar Dash, among other district officials, held a meeting in the shrine office in Puri and drew an initial road map for the festival. However, servitors were not present in the high-level meeting.
“We may not allow devotees this time. Around 7 to 8 lakh devotees participate in the festival every year. This involves month-long preparation for their accommodation, food, drinking water and sanitation. Since such mammoth preparations have not yet started, this indicates a possible ban on the participation of devotees in the festival this year,” a senior official said. The officials refused to comment whether the state government’s guidelines on the ban on religious congregations till June 30 can be adhered to during the Rath Yatra.