Mamata to inaugurate Rath Yatra festival today

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the Rath Yatra festival organised by ISKCON on Saturday morning.

There will be different functions at the temple premises. She will be inaugurating the Rath Yatra and at around 1 pm, it will start moving ahead from Hungerford Street and pass through AJC Bose Road, Sarat Bose Road, Hazra Road, SPM Road, ATM Road, Chowringhee, Exide Crossing, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Outram Road to reach Brigade Parade Ground.

Thousands of people will be turning up to take part in the Rath Yatra. People from different walks of life will start pouring into the city from Saturday morning itself to attend the biggest Rath Yatra festival in Kolkata.

The police have also made an elaborate arrangement to avoid any untoward incident during the Rath Yatra festival on Saturday. Steps have also been taken to ensure that no traffic congestion happens when the Rath passes through the important thoroughfares. The top brass of the Kolkata Police have held a meeting in this connection and chalked out a plan to divert vehicles through other roads. Additional policemen will be on-duty for the security of the devotees who will take part in the Rath Yatra. Policemen in plainclothes and women cops will also be deployed.

The chariot will be staying at Brigade Parade Ground till July 13 and people can visit to offer prayers to Lord Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra. There will also be a fair at the ground on the eve of Rath Yatra.

It is on July 22 noon that the festival of Ulta Rath Yatra will start. The Rath will be brought back to the temple through Outram Road near Park Street Metro, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Dorina Crossing, S N Banerjee Road, Moulali Crossing, CIT Road, Suhrawardy Avenue, Park Circus 7 Point Crossing, Shakespeare Sarani and Hungerford Street.

The Rath Yatra will be celebrated across the state on Saturday with great pomp and show where lakhs of devotees will gather at Mahesh in Hooghly.