Ahead of the Jagannath Rath Yatra festival, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Manjhi along with deputy CMs KV Singh Deo & Pravati Parida and other BJP leaders undertake a cleanliness drive in Puri on Saturday.
#WATCH | Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, deputy CMs KV Singh Deo & Pravati Parida and other BJP leaders attend a cleanliness drive in Puri ahead of Rath Yatra. pic.twitter.com/RNqUitspMj
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2024
Earlier, Odisha CM Charan Manjhi declared two-day holiday on July 7 and 8 for the auspicious Rath yatra of Lord Jagannath. Thus, marking this special occasion after 53 years as ‘Nabajaubana Darshan’ ‘Netra Utsav’ and the ‘Rath Yatra’ are all on the same day.
Later, the Odisha CM conducted a high-level meeting and reviewed preparations of annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath and his kins Subhadra and Balram on Tuesday.
This meeting was attended by several ministers and senior officials, including deputy CMs K V Singh Deo and Pravati Parida.
This meeting was held for marking the final coordination for the seamless conduct of the rath yatra.
Meanwhile, president Droupadi Murmu is set to attend the Lord Jagannath Yatra in Odisha’s Puri on July 7 2024.
As per Rashtrapati Bhawan’s release, President Murmu will visit the state for four days, starting from July 6.
Ahead of president’s visit, several security measures have put in place. As per Additional Director General Sanjay Kumar, a special VIP zone will be constituted for Odisha governor, chief minister, Union ministers and for the president, a buffer zone has been created.
Furthermore, he also revealed, that a special team led by senior superintendent of police (SP) rank officer has also been constituted to supervise President’s visit to puri.
The Rath Yatra Festival of Puri is one of the sacred and oldest Hindu chariot festival, which takes place annually on bright half of the lunar month of Ashadh (June–July) on Dwitiya Tithi (second day of the waxing of the moon).
In this festival, three deities- Lord Jagannath, Brother Balram and sister Subhadra are taken to Gundicha Temple via three immense wooden chariots carried by dozens of devotees along the grand avenue known as bada danda.
Then, the deities live in Gundicha Temple for a week. After that, they come back to Jagannath Temple. Their return journey is called Bahuda Yatra.
But this year is special for the devotees, as key rituals like ‘Nabajaubana Darshan,’ ‘Netra Utsav’ and the ‘Gundicha Yatra’ will take place on same day, a combination which was not witnessed since 1971.
