Consider using elephants to pull Puri chariots: HC to govt

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has directed the state government to consider deploying heavy duty machineries or even elephants instead of men to pull the chariots during the June 23 Rath Yatra.
The court issued the direction while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Dillip Kumar Ray in which he had pleaded for the use of heavy duty machineries to pull the chariots and avoid the involvement of men to maintain social distancing norms during the time of Covid-19.
At least 600 men are needed to pull the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra during the 3-kilometre journey from Puri Jagannath Temple to Gundicha Temple, the birthplace of the sibling deities. There they stay for a week before returning to the Jagannath Temple.
“We are inclined to observe that deploying heavy duty machineries or any other means like elephants, than men power, for pulling the chariots/rath, would obviously obviate the necessity of involving large number of persons, which number could be in many hundreds,” the bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Biswajit Mohanty observed.
“It is therefore directed that this aspect should be duly considered by the state government while taking a decision on holding Rath Yatra, consistent with the guidelines issued by the central government and the state government,” the bench stated in its June 9 order, a copy of which was available on Saturday.
The bench issued the direction while disposing of Ray’s petition along with the one filed by Surendra Panigrahi seeking its direction to stop Rath Yatra this year in view of the Covid crisis.
Regarding Panigrahi’s petition the bench observed, “This court is inclined to hold that it is up to the state government to decide whether or not to allow the Rath Yatra on June 23, depending on the situation then prevalent on the ground about the spread of coronavirus. If, however, any such decision is eventually taken, the state government shall ensure strict adherence to the directives issued by the Government of India with regard to the adherence to the lockdown measures issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.”
EoM