Ahmedabad: Rath Yatra of this year in the city commenced from Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area today morning with pahid vidhi performed by Chief Minister as per the ritual in presence of Mahant Dilipdasji Maharaj, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, Shri Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani and Trustee Mahendra Jha. Early in the morning BJP national president Amit Shah joined Mangala aarti at Jagannath Mandir along with his wife. Shah regularly attends Mangala aarti at this mandir on Rath Yatra morning every year. Mahant Dilipdasji was as per the tradition honored at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) campus when he reached there in open jeep. After entire day of journey that includes break at Saraspur temple, the raths of Bhagwan Jagdish, Subhadra and Balbhadra murthis will return back to Jagannath temple in the evening anytime post 7.00 pm. The raths (wooden chariots) are pulled by hundreds of Khalas community youths through ropes on entire route. Over a dozen elephants, around 100 trucks, akharians who perform adventurous stunts and bhajan mandlis join Rath Yatra procession. In 1980s and 1990s Rath Yatra was a major security challenge for local police as it used to pass through Muslim populated areas of Jamalpur, Dariapur and Shahpur, however for last many years Rath Yatra has been peaceful and Muslims too welcome it in large number in Muslim populated areas.

CM Rupani said that he prayed to lord Jagannath for peace and security in the state of Gujarat and all over the country, happiness and prosperity of people and continuation of the speedy development. He said that the rath-yatra was a Nagarutsav (city-fest) as the lord himself takes a round of the city and each and every community join him. Dy CM Patel said that he prayed for good monsoon and crops.

Meanwhile elaborate security arrangements were in place for the procession led by three main chariots of lord Jagannath, brother Balram and sister Subhadra which also includes 19 elephants, 101 decorated trucks as chariots, 18 bhajan mandalis, 30 akhadas and large number of saints which itself was around one kilometer in length while the to and fro route from the temple in Jamalpur to Mosal in Saraspur is around 18 km long. Tableau showing various achievements of ISRO and the valour of armed forces have also been included in the procession.

Over 21000 security personnel including 6 Joint Commissioners of Police (JCP), 36 DCP’s, 80 DySP’s , 222 PI’s and 728 PSI’s have been deployed for security. Para Military forces including the anti riots RAF apart form 23 companies of State Reserve police force (SRP) have also bee deployed. The route is also being kept under aerial surveillance through drone cameras and other devices. Plain clothed security personnel have been deployed in the sensitive areas of the yatra route to thwart any untoward incident.