Baripada: Following Odisha government’s decision to allow Rath Yatra in Puri this year sans devotees, the residents and servitors of Jagannath temple in Baripada town have urged Mayurbhanj district administration to allow the car festival to be held here.
Several servitors and local residents of Baripada town gathered at the second Srikhetra by adhering to Covid-19 safety protocols and lighted hundreds of lamps Saturday night.
“Baripada is famous as the second Srikhetra and the annual Rath Yatra is being celebrated here for over 450 years. In this context, it is quite unfortunate that the government is not allowing the festival to be celebrated here,” Lord Jagannath’s Pujapanda Arun Das lamented.
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“Covid-19 cases are in a declining trend in the state these days. In view of the present situation, the state government should not make a hasty decision,” the servitor of Lord Jagannath added.
“The government should reconsider its decision and allow celebration of annual Rath Yatra in Baripada this year, with the condition that no devotees would take part in the car festival 2021,” Das appealed.
It may be mentioned here that in view of the ongoing second wave of Covid-19, the government had recently permitted the car festival to be conducted only in Puri.
PNN
