Rath Yatra incident-free, says Harichandan

Bhubaneswar: Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Friday asserted that owing to the blessings of Lord Jagannath, the Rath Yatra was held in Puri without any major incidents or disruptions this year. “No major incidents occurred during this year’s Rath Yatra, which is the biggest blessing of Lord Jagannath on all of us. The devotees may have faced some minor problems but no major incidents or disruptions had taken place,” said the Law Minister.

On Friday, barring some minor delays during the Pahandi ritual of the deities, all other rituals related to the Rath Yatra were completed as per the schedule fixed by the Jagannath temple administration.

However, inordinate delay occurred during the pulling of chariots triggering discontent among the devotees gathered at the holy town.

The chariots of Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra (Taladhwaja and Darpadalana) stopped midway while Nandighosha, the chariot of Lord Jagannath, was halted just a few feet away from the Jagannath temple’s Lion Gate.

Responding to queries regarding the delay in the pulling of the chariots, the Law Minister said, “all the rituals were completed as per the schedule and the pulling of chariots began at 4 pm. But, the pulling of the chariot of Lord Balabhadra on the Bada Danda (Grand Road) took much time due to some problem occurring at the turning points. This apart, this year there was a huge turnout of devotees — more than 1.5 times that of previous years — for the Rath Yatra due to the favorable weather conditions.”

He said the turnout of devotees was beyond the expectations of the administration.

Similarly, the presence of huge crowds inside the cordon around the chariots caused the delay as the police officials failed to clear the people in time.