28 para military companies to be deployed for Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: A total of 28 companies of para military forces including Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and rioting control expert Rapid Action Force (RAF) will be deployed for the security arrangements during the annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra here slated to be held in the first week of next month.

This would be apart from 27 companies of Gujarat State Reserve Police (SRP) and teams of Nagaland and Assam Armed forces which have already arrived here and deployed in the sensitive areas of the Yatra route for patrolling purposes.

Police today said that 5 companies of CRPF have arrived from Jammu and Kashmir while two companies of women wing of the CRPF have come from Nagpur.

9 companies of the BSF from Kutch and 4 of the CISF from Chennai, two from Mumbai and one from Gujarat, 4 companies of the RAF from Ahmedabad and two from Bhopal would be arriving soon to be deployed for the Rath yatra procession.

Of the SRP 16 companies are already in the city while seven more will arrive soon, the police said.

During the Rathyatra, the whole route would be kept under surveillance through over 300 CCTV cameras, several Netra UAVs and camera fitted police vehicles.

The Rathyatra is held every year on the second day of Asadh month (Ashadi Bij). The procession with the idols of lord Jagannath, elder brother Bhalbhadra and sister Subhadra from the temple in Jamalpur crosses through sensitive areas of the old city to reach Saraspur and returns late in the evening. Lakhs of devotees throng the route. Elephants, Horses and large number of vehicles are also included in the procession. Elaborate security arrangements are made to avoid any untoward incident.

Traditionally, Chief Minister clears the path of the rath yatra with golden broom (Pahind Vidhi) to start the procession in the morning similar to the King using broom in Jaganath Puri for the procession.

DeshGujarat