BHUBANESWAR: With Rath Yatra beginning on Thursday, the ECoR has put in place extensive passenger amenities besides security and crowd management arrangements to facilitate the travel of lakhs of devotees to Puri for the chariot festival.
As per a release issued by the ECoR, it will operate a number of special trains connecting Puri with important destinations in Odisha as well as other states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to facilitate smooth travel of devotees to the pilgrim town during the festival.
The special trains will provide connectivity from major stations including Rourkela, Biramitrapur, Bangiriposi, Junagarh road, Badampahar, Boudh, Jagadalpur, Balasore, Angul, Gunupur, Rayagada, Paradip, Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Daspalla, Khurda road, Sambalpur, Talcher, Cuttack, Berhampur, Dhenkanal, Barbil, Palasa, Visakhapatnam, Gondia and Santragachhi, it said.
Besides, keeping in view the rush of pilgrims and operational feasibility, additional special trains will also be planned and operated to meet the travel requirements.
ECoR stated that the Puri railway station has undergone several infrastructure enhancements for Rath Yatra. These include improved passenger circulation through the ground floor of the newly-developed terminal building, addition of two floors to the tourist complex, better-organised holding areas and improved access management from the station approach road.
Dedicated pilgrim waiting areas and mela sheds with a combined holding capacity of 30,000 people have been created to manage the huge influx of passengers at the Puri station.
These include covered seating arrangements, German hangar sheds with air cooling facilities and shaded waiting areas for pilgrims.
The station premises have been equipped with 129 modular toilets, 68 bathrooms, 65 drinking water booths, 10 cold drinking water points and Wi-Fi connectivity to ensure passenger convenience.
This apart, three medical and first-aid centres supported by ambulances will remain available round-the-clock for emergency assistance. NGOs and self-help groups will also operate free food distribution centres for nearly 3.5 lakh pilgrims during the course of the festival.
For senior citizens and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) special arrangements including battery-operated vehicles and dedicated wheelchairs have been made. Besides to facilitate ticketing, 40 booking counters, 12 automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs), 32 mobile unreserved ticketing system (MUTS) machines and additional ticket counters have been provided at 21 stations.
A robust security plan has been put in place with deployment of 758 railway protection force (RPF) personnel, 1,500 government railway police (GRP), and 100 civil defence, scouts and guides volunteers.
To ensure round-the-clock vigilance throughout the festival, 250 CCTV cameras have been installed and four drones mobilised for aerial surveillance, besides deployment of 10 sniffer dogs and three fire tenders.