Majestic Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra begins amidst high security

With the nine-day-long majestic Jagannath Rath Yatra beginning in Puri today, more than 10 lakh devotees are expected to witness the colourful event amidst high security. The three majestic chariots of Lord Jagannath will roll out in Puri and witnessed by the lakhs of devotees. It will end on 29 June. However, the police has cautioned people to beware of a possible terror strike on the function. “There is a general threat perception of terror attack during Rath Yatra and people should be alert,” MM Praharaj, Director General of Police (Odisha) said. He also said that people should alert police in case they find anything suspicious. [caption id=“attachment_351983” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Amidst threats from extremist groups and heavy security deployment, more than 10 lakh devotees are expected to witness the colourful festival in Puri today. Reuters”]  [/caption] Eight thousand security men have been deployed in Puri including coast guard patrols off the coast. The East Coast Railway has made arrangements for the safety and convenience of passengers during the Yatra and is running 62 special trains during Rath Yatra festival period to and from Puri to cater to the numerous devotees from across the country. There have been incidents of stampede in the past few years but the district administration has said that they have taken measures to prevent it from happening again. In Gujarat too, the Rath Yatra, began this morning from the 400-year-old Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area, amidst tight security arrangements. As per tradition, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, performed the ‘Pahind Vidhi’ of Rathyatra (symbolic path cleaning on chariot of Lord Jagannath) after which the annual rathyatra of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baldev and their sister Devi Subhadra began. Around 20,000 policemen including homeguards, SRPs and para-military will be deployed on the entire 14-km yatra route. For the first time GPS and hidden cameras will be used by the police. with inputs from PTI