Over 200 Special Trains To Run For Rath Yatra In Odisha’s Puri

Puri: More than 200 special trains will be pressed into service for the devotees coming to participate in the Rath Yatra (car festival) in Odisha’s Puri town.

It was revealed at a coordination meeting of all departments chaired by RDC (Central) Suresh Chandra Dalei in the pilgrim town on Tuesday. Several issues related to the world famous festival were discussed in the meeting.

It was revealed in the meeting that the work on heritage corridor around Jagannath Temple will be completed before the Rath Yatra. Out of 865 wood logs needed for construction of the three chariots of the deities, 156 pieces have arrived and 81 pieces sent to saw mill for processing, the meeting was told.

Around 3,000 metre of cloth would be brought from Ahmedabad for covering the chariots and 300 kg of sandalwood from Tamil Nadu for use during the rituals. The order has been placed for 14 ropes to be used for pulling the chariots and 6 for inner and outer corridor around the Raths.

On the measures related to health problems of the devotees during the festival, the CDMO said at present, 29 ambulances at district headquarters hospital and 50 ambulances across the district are available for the emergencies. The provision of health insurance amounting to Rs 5 lakh for each of 30 devotees has been made.

All the roads and drains connecting to Bada Danda (Grand Road) in front of the temple will be cleaned by May 15 and 15 spots prone to water stagnation have been identified.

Law and order, traffic management, civic amenities for the devotees and provisions for smooth darshan by physically challenged persons were other issues that were discussed at the meeting. Among others, Puri MLA Jayant Kumar Sarangi, IG (Central) Narsingh Bhol, secretary of Daitapati Nijog Ramkrushna Das and officials of temple management committee were present.