Jagannath Seva Samiti has been making preparations for the celebration of lord Jagannath Jayanti with gaiety on July 10. The Rath yatra of lord Jagannath will be taken out from Gayatri Nagar at 11 in the morning.
Governor Shekhar Dutt, Chief Minister, Raman Singh, Assembly speaker Dharamlal Kaushik, all the ministers of the state, mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and leader of the opposition Ravindra Choubey will specially be present there to flag off the yatra.
Addressing the press, president of the Samiti, Purandar Mishra, said that every year the Samiti has been taking the lord Jagannath Yatra with pomp and show. After Jagannathpuri, Raipur is the place where three separate Raths were being made for Jagannath, Balbhadra and Subhrada, he added.
Travelling on the Rath, the lord, passing through themain roads of the city, reaches the house of his maternalaunt and after resting there for nine days returns to his house. This time his rest there would be for eight days.
On July 18, the lord will return to his house with the Bahuda Rathyatra, Mishra said. Mishra said, looking to the huge crowd of devotees every year, letter has been written to the collector and DGP for making fool-proof security arrangement.
He said that the festival has been started from today. In the afternoon nayan utsav of the lord has been celebrated. On the day of the Rathyatra, on July 10 morning, after the poornahuti in the Havankund and special pooja-archana, the invited special guests will send the Rath by pulling the chord. The Rathyatra will begin from Jagannath Mandir at Gayatri Nagar and will conclude at Gundicha Mandir, he added.