Jagannath Yatra commences in Ahmedabad; Amit Shah, Patel offer prayers

Ahmedabad: The 147th Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath rolled out early Sunday morning in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city where a large number of devotees flocked the procession route to pay obeisance to the deity.

The raths (chariots) of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra are pulled by Khalashi community members as per the age-old tradition.

The Rath Yatra is taken out on the Ashadhi Beej (second day of Hindu Ashadh month) every year.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah performed the 'mangla aarti' and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel performed 'pahind vidhi', the ritual of cleaning the way using a golden broom, as the chariots rolled out from the 400-year-old Lord Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area.

A senior police official earlier said more than 22,000 security personnel will guard the event and some balloon-mounted cameras will also be deployed to keep a watch on the people's movement.

As many as 4,500 personnel have been deployed to walk with the procession along the entire 16-km route while 1,931 personnel are managing traffic during the 147th edition of the annual Rath Yatra.

As per the decades-old tradition, the procession, led by chariots, would return by 8 pm after traversing different localities in the Old City, including some communally sensitive areas.

The procession usually consists of 18 decorated elephants, 100 trucks and 30 'akhadas' (local gymnasiums).

Senior police officials will keep a close watch on the procession using 1,733 body-worn cameras linked to a control room.

Besides, 20 drones and 96 surveillance cameras have been installed at 47 locations on the route.

Nearly 1,400 CCTV cameras installed by shopkeepers on the route will also be used for live surveillance, Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police GS Malik told reporters on Thursday.

To address any medical emergency, 16 ambulances and medical teams at five government-run hospitals have also been kept on stand-by, as per officials.