Bhubaneswar: With the world-famous Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath scheduled for July 16, a high-level review meeting was held today at the Town Hall premises in Puri to ensure flawless and orderly conduct of the festival. The meeting was chaired by Director General of Police Yogesh Bahadur Khurania.
Senior police and administrative officers from across the state attended the meeting to take stock of the arrangements.DGP Khurania said the police administration is fully alert to conduct this year’s Rath Yatra in a peaceful and well-managed manner.
He added that utmost importance has been given to incident-free conduct and smooth management of the festival.
This year, lakhs of devotees are expected to visit Puri. Keeping this in mind, new parking facilities have been developed at 8 different locations in the city.
The DGP stressed that priority will be given to proper service and security for devotees.
He also emphasized on maintaining a tolerant and courteous attitude towards pilgrims. Extensive arrangements have been made for orderly darshan and smooth movement of chariots.
Experienced police officers have been deployed for Rath Yatra duty. Traffic arrangements have been set up starting from Uttara Chack, Puri-Konark Road and other major streets of the city.
The DGP expressed hope that devotees will get full cooperation and convenience in traffic management.
Director of Intelligence R.P. Koche stressed on traffic control, movement of VIPs, crowd management and the cordon system.
He directed all officers to maintain constant communication with each other to make the security system stronger and more coordinated.
Additional Director General of Police, Modernization, Saumendra Priyadarshi asked personnel to work with a service-minded attitude and display friendly behaviour toward devotees.
He said duty performance should be treated as the highest responsibility and officers should not leave their assigned posts under any circumstances.
He also advised staff to remain steadfast and disciplined even in adverse weather conditions.
He noted that adequate arrangements have been made to manage the heavy crowd and urged officers to ensure every devotee returns with a good experience.
Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur said traffic management, crowd control, VIP visits and public safety are interlinked.
He called upon all officers to work with dedication so that every devotee leaves Puri with a safe and satisfying experience through coordinated efforts.
Among others present were ADG SAP Rajesh Kumar, IGP Crime Dr. Sarthak Sarangi, IGP Operations Dr. Deepak Kumar, IGP Training Anup Kumar Sahu, IGP North-Central Satyabrat Bhoi, DIGP Provisioning Charan Singh Meena, DIGP STF K. Vishal Singh, DIGP Eastern Pinak Mishra and DIGP Crime B. Gangadhar.Puri SP Pratya Singh welcomed the DGP and senior officers at the start of the meeting.
IGP Central Dr. Satyajit Naik delivered the vote of thanks at the end.
