The first Rath Yatra Coordination Committee meeting was held here on Wednesday. RDC (Central) Arabinda Padhee and law, Tourism and Culture Minister Maheswar Mohanty, besides the servitors’ representatives, participated in it.
According to the Shree Jagannath Temple almanac, the annual Rath Yatra of lord Jagannath and his siblings, elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra would be observed on July 10 and the Bahuda Yatra (return car festival) on July 18 this year.
The Puri municipality came under sharp criticism for the prevalent poor health and hygiene in the city. The Health department also came under the scanner as a large number of posts of medicos and staffers in the hospitals were lying vacant. The meeting directed the municipality to streamline the hygiene of the city, while the director of the Health department was asked to fill up the vacant posts before the next meeting of the committee.
The NH authorities were directed to complete the four-lanning of the Puri- Bhubaneswar road and fix necessary traffic signals before the Rath Yatra to facilitate smooth run of vehicular traffic.
The local civic body was directed to relocate all the bulls roaming in the city to a separate facility to curb the bovine menace. Engineers of all line departments were directed to complete their jobs before the next meeting of the committee.
The Cesu entrusted with supply of power to the city was asked to ensure uninterrupted supply of power during the Yatra. It was revealed that the Forest department had already provided almost all the timber logs necessary for construction of the three chariots. A sub committee comprising officials of Forest, Temple administration and Works department was constituted to look after the construction of the chariots.
SP Anup Kumar Sahu informed about the elaborate arrangements being made by the police department to maintain law and order for the regulation of vehicular traffic and other security measures.
The meeting asked the Nitee sub committee to ensure timely observance of Nitees of the deities by discussing the issues with the concerned temple servitor bodies.
RDC Padhee conducted the proceedings of the meeting. Municipality chairperson Santilata Pradhan and District Magistrate NK Nayak, among others, participated.