Gujarat gears up for rath yatras to be held on July 14

Annual rath yatras or chariot festival in honour of Lord Jagannath will be held at various places in Gujarat on July 14.

Besides the main Rath Yatra procession to be taken out in Ahmedabad on July 14, 163 other small and medium-scale processions will be organised at various places in the state.

While the Ratha Yatra during Odia Festival in Puri attracts lakhs of Hindu pilgrims each year, the Ahmedabad Rath Yatra is known to be the third largest in the world.

In Gujarat, the rath yatras typically involve public processions with chariots carrying deities Lord Jagannath (Lord Vishnu), Balbhadra, and Subhadra.

The date of rathyatras is typically fixed as per Gujarati calender.

The state government today said various steps are being taken to prevent any untoward incident during the processions.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja has held a high-level meeting with top officials of Home department and police to review the preparedness.

Jadeja said adequate police force will be deployed in all the 33 districts of the state for the July 14 events.

The minister said in a release that all processions will be closely monitored from Gandhinagar, as some of them pass through sensitive areas.

Of the total 164 rathyatras, 18 large-scale processions to be taken out in 15 different districts have been categorised as 'sensitive', said the release.

The government will deploy an Inspector General or a Deputy IG-level officer along with an SP, 15 Deputy SPs, 36 police inspectors and 110 sub-inspectors in Bhavnagar alone, where 11 processions will be taken out.

Similar deployments will be made for Rath Yatras to be taken out in Anand and Vadodara district, said the release.

A total of 17 companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) will be put on stand by to deal with any emergency, it said.