Axle of Subhadra’s chariot develops crack, repaired

Bhubaneswar: With Rath Yatra on June 20, a wide crack was spotted in an axle of a wheel of Devi Subhadra’s chariot on Saturday, sending the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) into a tizzy.
Amid apprehensions expressed by servitors about the safety of the chariot, the SJTA convened a meeting with a technical committee, consisting of engineers of the works department to resolve the matter. The committee denied the need to replace the axle.
“We inspected the crack. It has been repaired with an iron clamp. Every aspect has been examined, including whether there is a threat to the chariot or not. There is no need to change the axle,” said N C Pal, the head of the technical committee. Pal said the condition of the chariots of Lord Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra is fine.
Servitors, however, have demanded immediate replacement of the alleged defective axle. Many servitors and ghantuas would be present on the chariot during the journey from Jagannath Temple to Gundicha temple (three km) on Rath Yatra. “The cracked axle may not withstand the pressure. If any untoward incident happens, the administration will be held responsible,” said senior Daitapati servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra.
An axle of Devi Subhadra’s chariot broke three days before Rath Yatra in 2017. The administration had replaced it then. Due to difficulty in removing the axle, the engineers had to dig the road below the two wheels to replace it with a new one.