Despite a good rain that gave a lot of relief to the people from heatwave and cloudy weather conditions, rush was seen on the last day of the three-day famous Rathyatra Mela here on Thursday. During the wee hours on Friday, the idols of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, whose idols were kept on the traditional wooden Rath (chariot) based on 14 wheels and placed near Rathyatra crossing, were brought back to Jagannath temple at Assi to mark the conclusion of the festival. On the last day, good number of locals reached there and offered prayers. Many of them also pulled the Rath to seek the blessings of the Almighty.
With the wish of public welfare, the activists of Namami Gange led by its regional coordinator (Kashi) Rajesh Shukla also reached there and performed the aarti of Lord Jagannath. They also distributed saplings of Tulsi plant and jute bags to give the message of environmental protection. They appealed to the shopkeepers there not to use polythene bags. Shukla also appealed to the visitors to keep the city clean saying that all types of worship are incomplete without cleanliness.
City co-coordinator Bina Gupta, city in-charge Pushpalata Verma, Sunita Jaiswal, Rita Patel, Geeta Sachdeva, Nidhi Agrawal, Krishnamohan Pandey, Suryanshu Shukla and many others were also present.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the fair areas during the last three days and no vehicles were allowed to move to Rathyatra crossing from any of the corners including Bhelupur, Luxa, Mahmoorganj and Sigra. The history of this fair is old as since 1802 it has been celebrated here. In 1780, Pandit Nityanand, the chief priest and manager of Jagannath temple in Puri visited this holy city and then set up a temple of Lord Jagannath near Assi.