Jagannath Rath Yatra 2022: 25000 security personnel will be deployed in Ahmedabad, Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra will leave on July 1
Jagannath Rath Yatra: Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi came to Ahmedabad to take stock of the preparations for Lord Jagannath. Due to Corona, the event was held in a limited way for the last two years.
Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad: Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi said on Thursday that at least 25,000 security personnel will be deployed for the security of the 145th Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath to be held in Ahmedabad on July 1. After a gap of two years, a full-fledged Rath Yatra will be taken out in the city, as this mega-religious event was held on a limited basis in 2020 and 2021 due to the Kovid-19 epidemic.
Tight security arrangements will be made
Sanghvi said that at least 25,000 men and women personnel of Regular Police, Reserve Police and Central Armed Police will be deployed at important places of the city for the security of Rath Yatra. This force of 25,000 personnel will include eight DGP or Inspector General rank officers, 30 Superintendent of Police rank officers and 135 Assistant Commissioner of Police rank officers. Sanghvi had reached the crime branch office of the city to take stock of the preparedness of the police regarding the event.
Drones will be monitored
“Apart from regular security personnel to maintain law and order during the Rath Yatra, we will deploy 68 companies of State Reserve Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). We will also use technology for surveillance,” the minister told reporters here. We will keep a watch from the control room and ‘body-wear’ cameras attached to the drone. The police will also deploy ‘face detection’ cameras to identify and nab the anti-social elements moving along the route of the Rath Yatra.”
A distance of 15 kilometers is covered in a day
Traditionally, the Jagannath Rath Yatra, led by chariots, started at around 7 am from the 400-year-old temple in Jamalpur area of the city and traveled around the old city including some communally sensitive areas and returned at 8 pm. The journey usually involves 18 elephants, 100 trucks and 30 akhadas, covering a distance of 15 kilometers in a day. The chariots of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra are pulled by the Khalashi community in a centuries-old tradition.
