Puri: Lakhs of devotees Friday started pulling the chariots of Lord Jagannath and His Siblings as part of the ‘Bahuda’ Yatra in Odisha’s Puri, amid tight security arrangements, officials said.
Earlier, Gajapati Maharaja of Puri Divyasingha Deb performed the ‘Chhera Pahanra’ ritual of the ‘Bahuda Yatra’, ceremonially sweeping the floors of the chariots of The Holy Trinity.
Bahuda Yatra rituals commenced with servitors carrying the deities in the traditional ‘Goti Pahandi’ (procession in a queue) to the chariots stationed outside the temple.
Though the ‘Pahandi’ was scheduled to begin at noon, it commenced at 10.50 am. Amid chants of “Jai Jagannath” and “Haribol”, the deities were taken one after another to their respective chariots.
The festival is being held under an extensive security blanket in the wake of the crowd surge during the Bahuda Yatra, which claimed two lives and left several others injured.
“We have a multi-layered security arrangement for the festival as the number of devotees rises by the day. Our security and crowd management arrangements remain similar to the bandobast made during the Rath Yatra,” ADG Soumendra Priyadarshi said.
More than 13,000 security personnel, including Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel, have been deployed across Puri, while over 400 AI-enabled CCTV cameras have been installed for real-time surveillance and crowd monitoring.
“We have taken all possible measures to ensure the festival concludes smoothly,” Director General of Police YB Khurania said.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast cloudy skies over Puri, with humidity likely to remain between 80 and 90 per cent and temperatures hovering between 29 and 30 degrees Celsius.
PNN
