Ahmedabad: Two shifts for chariot pullers, prasad at temple

AHMEDABAD: It will be the 144th Rath Yatra for the city, and it will be like no other. While the chariots could not roll in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year there will be no sea of humanity greeting the Holy Trinity.
The curfew on the route of the procession will ensure that citizens have to glimpse the Lord of the World from their homes.
“We are happy that we will carry out the procession,” said Mahendra Jha, trustee of the Jagannathji temple during a media interaction on Friday. “We are committed to following Covid guidelines.”
Jha told the media that for the first time, there will be two batches of chariot pullers. “The first batch will pull the three chariots from the temple to Saraspur, and the second will pull them from Saraspur to the temple,” he said.
He added that there will be no stopping on the route, and there will be only a five-minute break at Saraspur for the exchange while chariots are greeted for the mameru ritual.

“Every year, the chariots and the car of the mahant are greeted at 200 places on the route, but this time there will be no such events. We appeal to all to watch the procession on TV, and not to approach the streets,” said Jha. Mahant Dilipdasji also appealed to devotees to pray from home.
The temple authorities said the sprouted green gram, given to citizens as prasad during the procession, will be distributed from the temple premises. “Considering the demand from the devotees, the prasad will be distributed till Guru Purnima (July 24). It will not be given out along the route,” said Jha. Pradipsinh Jadeja, MoS (home), along with senior officials including state DGP Ashish Bhatia met the temple authorities to give final shape to the preparations.
City police also carried out a rehearsal on the route, indicating that there would be the usual scale of police deployment even as the procession has been scaled down to five vehicles. Jadeja, talking to the media after the discussion, said the procession is a matter of faith for millions.
“We are organizing it with all due precautions. There will be 20 chariot pullers from the Khalasi community with each chariot. All will participate after a negative RT-PCR test,” he said.