The Jagannath temple wore a festive look on Saturday as Ahmedabad celebrated Lord Jagannath's 141st Rath Yatra of the city. The 400-year-old temple in Jamalpur began receiving visitors since midnight with the crowd surging as the day wore off. Over 1,200 cops and other paramilitary forces were deployed in and around the temple premises alone to ensure that the yatra passed off peacefully. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel arrived around 7 to perform the Pahind Vidhi (the ceremonial cleansing of the route with a golden broom before the yatra begins). Speaking to reporters after the event, Rupani said, "The yatra is now a celebration for the people and it is a festival that transcends religious and caste lines. We hope that Lord Jagannath will continue to shower his blessing on the state." Earlier, the CM had also taken the real-time monitoring of the security arrangements for the yatris through the CM dashboard command control, allowing him to know the progress of the yatra as well. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also, through a tweet, greeted people on the occasion. "Greetings on the auspicious occasion of Rath Yatra. With the blessings of Lord Jagannath, may our country scale new heights of growth. May every Indian be happy and prosperous. Jai Jagannath!" the PM tweeted. The Rath Yatra is taken out every year on Ashadhi Bij, the second day of Ashad month, as per the Hindu calendar. The procession that begins at 7 am returns to the temple at 8.30 pm after passing several areas of the Old City. The yatra had 18 elephants, 101 trucks, 30 akhadas, 3 rass mandals, 18 bhajan mandals, 30 religious groups and 18 singing troupes. The tour that leaves in its wake a mountain of garbage, particularly plastic pouches of water, was this time relatively less messy, thanks to the plastic ban imposed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. "This time, the security was so bad that I did not get to offer my prayers before the Lord. The security personnel was not allowing people before the chariot until it left the temple," said Jagruti Parmar, a resident of Khadia who had come early to beat the crowd. The 108 emergency service recorded 6 cases of emergency during the yatra, including a chariot puller losing a finger in an accident. Top cops also carried out foot patrolling in communally sensitive areas like Shahpur and Dariapur. The cops also towed away 120 vehicles in and around the Rathyatra route for violating parking norms. Special arrangements for parking was made but almost all parking lots were full by 5.30 in the morning, forcing people to park on roads. Amit Shah attends Mangala Arti at Jagannath temple BJP president Amit Shah attended the Mangala Aarti at Jagannath Temple on Saturday. The aarti is performed at 4 am before the Lord is moved to the chariot for his yatra. Shah is in Gujarat for a one-day visit where he also addressed a youth parliament in a varsity. INJURIES THIS YEAR While the Rath Yatra was completed smoothly, there were some medical emergencies reported, including injuries, fainting and chest pain. 17 cases were handled by 108 — Gujarat’s emergency services. A 28-year-old man’s finger was crushed after it came under the tyre of one of the chariots while pulling a rath. The man’s finger had to be medically amputated due to serious tissue damage. A QUIET YATRA Unlike previous years, when almost every truck would have a DJ and boast of all sorts of religious, patriotic and famous songs, this year the same was amiss. Except for a few trucks, others did not have any music system installed in the vehicle. People witnessing Rath Yatra this year said that it was a silent Yatra, which kept the hassle of loud music and noise pollution at bay. POLICE ACTION 120 private vehicles were towed in one single day. Around 18 cranes were deployed at the route of the Jagannath Rath Yatra, which was towing away the vehicles, which were parked on the route or even on a nearby road, before the procession began. During the entire procession, 120 vehicles were towed by traffic police to clear the route for Rath Yatra. INJURED ON DUTY One lady police officer, deployed at the Jagannath temple, got serious injuries after her leg was crushed under the moving rath. The police officer was immediately taken to a hospital for the treatment. Another police officer’s driver died in his parked during the yatra. The police officer was deployed at the yatra route and left his car under his driver’s care. The driver suffered a cardiac arrest when the officer was away. He was taken to the U.N. Mehta Hospital, where he was declared dead. Rath Yatra ends peacefully The Jagannath Rath Yatra ended peacefully under the shadow of police arrangments, where more than 20,000 policemen were depoyed for the smooth movement of the yatra throuhg the city. Nearly half of the police department was deployed near the Jagannath Temple and on the 15-km route of the procession since Friday night. There were paramilitary forces and local police deployed in the sensitive areas to control the crowd. Before the procession was to pass through the sensitive areas, foot patrolling was done by the top cops of the city. AK Singh, CP, said, “We had tightened the security arrangements. Our team has done a great job and everything was peaceful.”

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