This year, the 144th Jagannath Rathyatra may or may not go as planned. Every year the route begins from the Jagannath temple in the minority-dominated Jamalpur area to the fortified kingdom of Ahmedabad, founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1411, at Saraspur. This is a 14 km one-way route for Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva, and sister Subhadra.
On June 24, Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and the minister of state for home, Pradeepsinh Jadeja performed puja for the Jalyatra, which marked the beginning of the preparations of Lord Jagannath’s rath yatra that is organized on Ashadhi-Bij
Although uncertain, the police bandobast is in full swing. DCP control Harshad Patel said, “Although it’s still uncertain if the Rathyatra will take place or not, we are ready with our bandobast. We have around 17,000 uniformed personnel, which includes 3 DIG, 1 IG, 20 SP, 40 ACP, 120 PI, 267 PSI, 1500 constabulary, and 10 companies of CRPF, RAF, and BSF.”
