Puri: The chariots for the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and siblings are built at a place about 200 meters from the 12th century temple in Odisha’s Puri.
Ahead of the world-famous Rath Yatra slated to be held on June 27, officials said it is a very difficult task to place all the three giant chariots in the right places in front of the main temple and for this big railway jacks are used.
During the Rath Yatra, a team of 40 employees of the Railways follows the chariots in two trucks with all repair equipment. As per the tradition, the chariot does not move back, once it moves forward. Therefore, the role of railway employees in smooth running of the chariots becomes even more important.
In some incidents, to repair any major damage caused to the chariots, the example of making special iron clamps from the factory located at Mancheswar in Bhubaneswar, is also recorded in history.
The railway department performs its services in the form of transporting the huge chariots from their construction site to the main temple gate, repairing the damages caused to the chariots during construction or traveling, providing direction to the chariots, changing the direction of the chariots and shifting them, said an official statement.
