Iskcon temple gears up for annual car festival

Preparations have started at the Iskcon Temple in Bhubaneswar for the annual car festival with artists from different parts of the state gathering to assemble and decorate the chariots for the sibling deities.
Carpenters from Jagatsinghpur and designers from Pipili have made the temple premises their base and started their work, which is going on in full swing.
“We are going to observe the festival with great fervour,” said chairman of the festival committee Banamali Jagannath Das. Iskcon is one of the most important temples in the city where the annual car festival is celebrated every year. Lakhs of devotees throng the temple for a glimpse of the deities. “I am very excited for the Rath Yatra. There are many like us, who cannot make it to Puri for the festival. The Rath Yatra at Iskcon Bhubaneswar is one of our best options,” said octogenarian Harihara Dash, an IRC vilage resident.
“We follow the rituals of the Jagannath Temple in Puri and ensure that there are no delays,” said Das. He said like the servitors in Puri they have their dedicated devotees at the temple, who execute different respons i b i l i t i e s during the festival.
“Several devotees voluntarily come to give a service. We assign them with the jobs accordingly,” the chairman said. The three chariots from the temple roll on the day of the festival and reach the Gundicha Temple in Unit-VIII covering about 2 km. Devotees are usually packed along the whole length of the NH, the route of the chariots and the flyover that runs parallel to the highway. To avert any untoward incident during the festival, the temple administration has also been holding back-to-back meetings with the commissionerate police, civic administrations and fire services personnel, among others.
“In the last meeting, we highlighted certain problems which could hamper the festival and sought the government’s support. The most important issue is less parking space and water logging in front of the temple when there is rain,” said chief coordinator of the festival committee Radhakanta Das. He said the safety and security of the visitors are their main concern. “We are going to have our next meeting with the administration on Tuesday. We want to ensure that our visitors witness the festival without any hindrance,” Das added.