The managing committee of the Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri, will decide on holding the Rath Yatra after May 3, keeping in mind the revised guidelines for restrictions to be issued by the Union and Odisha governments.
State-wise tracker for COVID-19 cases, deaths and testing, and a map of confirmed cases in India
The Rath Yatra, which is witnessed by over one million devotees in nine days every year, is scheduled for June 24. The committee met on Friday, two days before the auspicious Akshya Tritiya (April 26) when the construction of chariots begins.
“The Central and State governments are the apex authorities to take decisions in respect of public health. We have to follow their instructions. We have requested the governments to ensure that rituals are not disturbed. It is up to the governments to decide whether the Rath Yatra can be held in the absence of devotees,” Dibyasingha Deba, Puri’s titular king and chairman of the managing committee, said on Friday.
Mr. Deba said the managing committee decided not to hold any outdoor ritual till May 3, and the decision would be applicable to all Jagannath temples across the globe.
The managing committee members will meet Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati to discuss how to perform rituals because of the restrictions.
Sources in the State government said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday held a phone discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rath Yatra.
Earlier, servitors had urged the managing committee to scale down the Rath Yatra, but not to skip the festival. According to Janardan Pattajoshi Mohapatra, chief servitor of the temple, the Rath Yatra had not been discontinued in the past 284 years.
