PURI: Braving extreme heat and humidity, over a million devotees and visitors flocked to Puri to take part in the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra as they embarked on their nine-day annual sojourn to Gundicha temple on Tuesday.
The sweltering conditions, however, impacted the conduct of rituals, which were delayed leading to only the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra reaching Gundicha temple by evening while Darpadalana of Devi Subhadra and Nandighosha of Lord Jagannath remained stuck mid-way and will be pulled to their destination on Wednesday.
The rituals for the Rath Yatra were started on time early in the morning. The pahandi (ceremonial procession of the deities to the chariots) began at 9:15 am, 15 minutes before schedule. Amidst the beating of cymbals and gongs, the ecstatic devotees chanted ‘Jai Jagannath’, ‘Hari Bola’ when the deities wearing beautiful ‘tahias’ (crowns) swayed all the way to their respective chariots.
Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb arrived to conduct the chhera pahanra (ceremonial sweeping) atop the chariots which was completed by 2:50 pm. Enthusiasm and excitement ran high among devotees as the Taladhwaja chariot began to roll on the Grand Road at around 3 pm which was followed by the pulling of Devi Subhadra’s Darpadalana and Nandighosha.
As the devotees jostled with each other to take the ropes in their hands during the pulling of the chariots, it became challenging for the security personnel and volunteers to control the crowd. About a dozen sustained injuries during the pulling of the first chariot Taladhwaja of Lord Balabhadra when rows of devotees hit a motorcycle parked by the roadside. Several were also injured in the commotion during the pulling of Nandighosha. Police denied any stampede-like situation and said CCTV footage of the incident will be examined.
After the temperature soared over 35 degree Celsius and humidity touched 79 per cent, the conditions turned sordid for the mammoth gathering. Hundreds of devotees were severely affected by the heat and were rushed to the hospitals. Fortunately, no casualty was reported till the filing of this report. According to unofficial estimates, the total footfall in the pilgrim town could be in the range of 11 lakh to 12 lakh on the day.
Close to 300 people became unconscious due to dehydration and exhaustion and were given preliminary medical care at the district headquarters hospital (DHH), a 10-bed hospital set up by Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital and the several health camps set up across the three-km-long Grand Road and other parts of the Pilgrim City
Official sources at the DHH said nearly 200 people were admitted to the hospital of whom 50 suffered injuries while bathing in the sea. The rest were cases of dehydration, breathlessness and exhaustion due to the heat and humidity while some of them also suffered injuries in the scramble at the Grand Road during the pulling of the three chariots, particularly Nandighosha of Lord Jagannath.
ADMO (Medical) Pranab Shankar Dash said none of the patients were admitted to the ICU and all were released after preliminary treatment. “We haven’t referred any of the admitted patients to SCB Medical and Hospital at Cuttack or any hospital at Bhubaneswar.”
At the 10-bed hospital set up near the Shree Jagannath temple by Hi-Tech Medical, 120 unconscious and injured people were brought in till 5 pm. Sources informed that 70 people were treated for heat-related ailments and 21 suffered injuries due to overcrowding at the Grand Road and required stitches. Around 13 patients were referred to the DHH for further treatment.
A green corridor was created by the district administration which helped ambulances shift the injured and unconscious devotees to the DHH. The corridor was manned by close to 500 volunteers or various organisations including Red Cross, police, NDRF, ODRAF and other security personnel.
Senior Daitapati servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra said heat also considerably slowed down the process of pulling of the chariots. By 8 pm, only Lord Balabhadra’s Taladhwaja could reach the Gundicha temple while Devi Subhadra’s Darapadalana was pulled till Bada Sankha and Lord Jagannath’s Nandighosha was stopped near Mausi Maa temple.
While overcrowding at the Grand Road and heat and humidity made devotees uncomfortable, what brought them relief was the water spraying and sprinkling arrangement by the district administration and Odisha Fire Service. Firefighting vehicles were stationed throughout Grand Road to spray water on people.
“The crowd was enormous and throughout the day, there was a rush among the devotees. If we could manage to survive the heat and humidity in this crowded situation, it was because of the constant spraying of water on people and misting by the firefighters,” said Bhabaratan Panda, a devotee. A strong army of volunteers also carried people who fainted, to the health camps opened at strategic locations.
To help devotees deal with the heat, the district administration continued to provide water bottles to them till the pulling of chariots was stopped. This apart, officials and volunteers ensured the supply of glucose, ORS and fruit juice packets to the teeming crowd at regular intervals.
CM, Guv, CJ & Union mins in attendance
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik walked through the crowd to have the darshan of Lord Jagannath on Nandighosha. He touched the chariot rope as per custom.
The CM witnessed different rituals from the VVIP enclosure. Governor Ganeshi Lal, Chief Justice S Muralidharan of Orissa High Court, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, several ministers and Opposition leaders were also present at the Rath Yatra.