In Photo: From Left: District Collector Hemant Gera, S.P Hari Prasad Sharma and Ad.SP Tejraj Singh in meeting for upcoming Jaganath Yatra

As a part of the preparations for the upcoming Jaganath Rath Yatra, Hemant Kumar Gera, District Collector, called a special meeting at the Conference Hall of the Collectorate in the evening at 6 today.

The meeting for the rally, which will take place on 21^st June was joined by Hari Prashad Sharma, S.P. Udaipur, Yasin Pathan, ADM City, Tejraj Singh, A.D.S.P; President of the Rath Yatra Samiti, Prem Das Vaishnav and all the Circle Inspectors of all the Police Stations and other administrative officials.

Presidents of the 2 Sub-Committees of the Rath Yatra Samiti; the “Rath Samiti” and the “Dhan Utsav Samiti” were also present in the meeting.

Gera commenced the meeting by letting everyone know that the Carriage (Rath) will be 20 feet long this year. He shared his concern on the loose electric lines at the Jagdish Chowk and along the Rath Yatra route. He said, “The concerned departments should start the repair works and remove the faulty high tension wires from the route”. He added, “The Yatra route will also be sprayed with water to maintain a cool atmosphere on the 21^st and the roads will also be cleaned”.

S.P. Hari Prasad Sharma said that, “The preparations will be far better than last year”. He added, “As the number of female participants in the Yatra is always greater each year, we will also be appointing more number of female police personnel at the field on the 21^st”.

The Rath Yatra preparations will be a joint effort of the Administration, the Police Department and the Rath Yatra Samiti.

Yasin Pathan, ADM City informed that the preparations for the event will start from tomorrow, and the primary target will be cleaning and grooming the city. He said, “The hoardings on the rally route will also be removed on the day of the event, as it might disrupt the flow of the procession”

Pathan also appealed the media to spread the word around the people to not overcrowd the roofs and balconies of the houses at the Jagdish Mandir and nearby areas. The houses being very old, might get damaged due to the overcrowding and disrupt the rally

The Police department will also be recording the entire rally for future reference and law keeping.

The Joint committee will be doing a spot analysis of the Yatra route on the 7^th, 16^th and the 20^th of June.