Puri: Amid uncertainty over the organisation of this year’s Rath Yatra due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Daitapati Niyog of Srimandir Wednesday wrote to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stating that the annual mega festival should be held along with restrictions.
In its email to the Chief Minister, the Daitapati Niyog pleaded that the state government should preserve the tradition and culture of Srimandir while taking adequate steps to secure the lives of people.
“In our email to the Chief Minister, we have cited several instances when the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath was conducted amid calamities and political turmoil. The annual mega festival had been conducted amid the Sepoy mutiny in 1857, a massive famine in 1866 and a pandemic in 1918,” said Daitapati Niyog secretary Durga Dasmahapatra.
According to Dasmahapatra, the Daitapati Niyog has suggested that the state government should conduct Rath Yatra amid stringent restrictions. “The state government can organise Rath Yatra by imposing total lockdown in Puri and sealing all entry and exit points to the city. The state government can examine the health conditions of servitors and police personnel who are supposed to take part in the mega event,” Dasmahapatra said.
However, the Daitapati Niyog has made it clear that its members will be abided by any decision of the state government on Rath Yatra taken in consultation with Puri Shankaracharya and Gajapati king, sources added.
They suggested that limited number of servitors would perform the rituals and police would pull the chariots along the Badadanda to Gundicha temple.
The servitors stated that if the festival was not conducted “it would bring many disasters to the state and the country.”
Meanwhile, Dr Lisa Sarangi, Professor community medicine of Hi-Tech Medical College, Bhubaneswar, has visited the pilgrim city and inspected the prevalent corona precaution conditions in Puri and interacted with a cross section of people.
She opined that the annual mega event could be organised keeping the devotees away from Badadanda – the venue of the festival. There should be complete adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
Sarangi in her letter addressed to Chief Minister and Gajapati Maharaja stated after examining the situation from ground zero, Rath Yatra could be organised without physical participation of devotees and the local residents.
Every entry point to Puri should be sealed for organising the festival.
The servitors and police personnel who would be deployed to conduct the fete should test for coronavirus before pulling the chariots. They should follow one-metre social distance norm.
The servitors, she said, have to undergo 14-day home quarantine and they should be tested for coronavirus. Servitors with COVID-19 negative report should be allowed to participate in the festival.
She insisted that sanitisation of entire Badadanda and the city with one percent mixture of sodium hypochlorite frequently be done before and during the festival.
