AHMEDABAD: Speculation over the 144th Rath Yatra may roll out of the way with the administration starting preparations for it, seemingly prepared to give its nod with certain conditions.
A senior police officer told TOI that the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balbhadra and Goddess Subhadra will cover the route of the Rath Yatra in around four hours.
There will be no slowing of the chariots as happened in previous yatras, where the convoy slows down in areas like Danapith, Khadia and Dariapur and people come out to greet the chariots, he said.
“We also decided to deploy police from Thursday onwards on the route of the Rath Yatra and have also started chalking up the plan for additional deployment,” said a city police officer.
A meeting of city police officers and the temple trustees also took place on Tuesday, where various plans for the Rath Yatra were discussed.
“There was also a proposal from the cops that the raths be pulled by tractors, but there was a technical issue, that the Raths do not have brakes and are pulled by trained khalasis. Pulling the raths by tractors may end up damaging them,” said Mahendra Jha, one of the trustees of the Jagannath temple.
Jha added, “Union home minister Amit Shah will attend the mangla aarti at the Jagannath temple on the Rath Yatra day, July 12.” He said other rituals like Pahind Vidhi will be held for which chief minister Vijay Rupani has been invited.
On Tuesday night, city police commissioner Sanjay Srivastava went to Saraspur which is considered the “mosal” (maternal uncle’s home) of Lord Jagannath and worshipped at a temple.
