Puri: Keeping in view the footfall of lakhs of devotees to the annual chariot festival of Lord Jagannath and his siblings in the Holy City, various issues including crowd management, traffic regulation, sanitation, timely completion of rituals and shortage of Phasi timber logs for chariot construction were discussed at the Rath Yatra Coordination meeting held under the chairmanship of Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Centre) on Saturday.
Among major issues, shortage of Phasi wood for the construction of chariots has brought to the notice of RDC Ranjan Kumar Das and Puri District Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain.
It also discussed sanitation, power and potable water supply. The meeting expressed concern over the shortage of Phasi logs for the construction of chariots.
Upon being asked about the shortage of Phasi logs, Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain said, “Divisional Forest Officers have attended the coordination meeting. They have been told to collect information on the plantation of Phasi trees and the availability of Phasi logs. DFOs have been instructed to take special measures so that there will be no shortage of Phasi timber logs for the next 50 years.”
It is pertinent to note that the wheels of the chariots of Rath Yatra are made from Phasi logs. As many as 72 numbers of Phasi logs of 14-feet long and six-feet girth are required for making wheels of three chariots of the deities.
When asked about other issues discussed in the meeting, he said, “Also, Health department officials have been advised to strengthen the first-aid centres so that we can remain prepared to address cardiac or heatwave-related eventualities on the D-Day and admit patients to nearest healthcare centres without delay.”
Addressing the media, Puri Superintendent of Police (SP) Pinak Mishra said, “Puri police have already started preparations to conduct Rath Yatra smoothly and hassle-free. Our first priority is crowd management. Besides, special measures will be taken to ensure the safe and hassle-free darshan of devotees coming to the Puri district during the festivity. We will develop special arrangements for traffic regulation, crowd management, parking issues, and safety of devotees on the beach. Also, steps will be taken to ensure the safety of VIPs and VVIPs who are expected to attend the world-famous Car festival.”
“We will talk to Puri residents and servitors so that we can incorporate their suggestions to complete the carnival in a hassle-free manner. Keeping the rise of auto-rickshaws in the Holy City, we have formed a sub-committee under the guidance of sub-collector to control the crowd at Bada Danda and beach in particular,” added Mishra.
