Amid chants of ‘Jai Jagannath', Puri gets ready for chariots to roll
1
2
Puri: The pilgrim city is buzzing with religious fervour as countless devotees from across the country and abroad have started reaching Puri to participate in Friday's Rath Yatra.
Amid chants of 'Jai Jagannath', devotees await eagerly to witness the siblings deities of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra commence their annual sojourn to their birthplace at Gundicha Temple. The deities will travel on their respective chariots along the Grand Road, which has been beautifully decorated for the occasion.
The govt has taken all measures to ensure a peaceful and incident-free festival.
"We are fully prepared to host the grand festival. All requisite infrastructure and tourist amenities are in place," Puri district collector Siddharth Shankar Swain said.
A senior ministerial committee, headed by deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, was tasked to assesse the arrangements. Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who reviewed the preparations on June 22, emphasised the importance of an "incident-free" Rath Yatra.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn
IC Markets
Đăng ký
Undo
Given the IMD's rain forecast, the local administration said it has implemented adequate measures to address potential waterlogging on Grand Road, where countless devotees will pull the chariots.
Enhanced security measures have been implemented in Puri, with increased police presence in the light of the Indo-Pak tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack. Police deployment has increased from 6,500 personnel last year to over 10,000 this year.
An anti-terror squad, armed vehicle and NSG snipers have also been positioned to ensure a smooth festival.
"We have put in place foolproof security, crowd control and traffic arrangements. AI-enabled CCTV cameras and drones have been deployed," DGP Y B Khurania said.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) laid stress on timely completion of rituals. "We have held a series of meetings with the servitors, who have assured us full cooperation for timely and disciplined conduct of all rituals," SJTA chief administrator Arabinda Kumar Padhee said, adding that only eligible and duty-bound servitors will be permitted on chariots and during Pahandi, an essential ritual involving the transfer of idols to and from the chariots.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
30 minutes ago
- Time of India
US defence secy: No known intel that Iran moved its uranium
Washington: US defence secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes. US military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities early Sunday local time. The results of the strikes are being closely watched to see how far they may have set back Iran's nuclear programme. "I'm not aware of any intelligence that I've reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise," Hegseth said. 'Historically successful' Several experts had noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing "unusual activity" at Fordo on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday that most of the 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack. Experts quoted by the Associated Press said enriched uranium stocks can be moved in small canisters and are hard to find. Hegseth's comments denying such claims came at the news briefing where he also accused the media of downplaying the success of the US strikes following a leaked, preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggesting they may have only set back Iran by months. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo At the Pentagon news conference, Hegseth described the strikes as "historically successful." Khamenei's defiant tone Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory in the war with Israel and said the US's intervention achieved nothing, in his first comments since a ceasefire came into effect earlier this week. "The Islamic Republic emerged victorious and delivered a harsh slap to America's face" he said in a pre-recorded video message. "This action can be repeated in the future," he said, adding the US "gained no achievements from this war. " Khamenei said the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities "were unable to do anything important." In a reference to Trump's claims that the strikes "obliterated" the nuclear sites, he insisted that the President had "exaggerated" their effectiveness. 'Centrifuges not operational' Centrifuges at the Fordo uranium enrichment plant in Iran are "no longer operational" after the United States attacked the facility with bunker-busting bombs, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog IAEA Rafael Grossi said on French radio. Centrifuges, which are spinning machines used to enrich uranium, require a high-degree of precision and are vulnerable to intense vibrations, Grossi said. But he said it would be "too much" to assert that Iran's nuclear program is "wiped out". ap, reuters, nyt
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
EC sources say demand neither new nor tenable
NEW DELHI: Congress' Rahul Gandhi 's insistence that EC share a machine-readable digital copy of the Maharashtra electoral roll appears to have overlooked an important aspect - a similar request made by senior Congress neta Kamal Nath before SC was rejected in 2018, reports Bharti Jain. Interestingly, arguing the case on behalf of the petitioner was none other than Abhishek Manu Singhvi, now member of Congress's Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) that monitors the conduct of elections. A two-judge bench had in its ruling on Oct 12, 2018, in the case 'Kamal Nath vs EC and Others', found "force in the submission of EC (that) clause 11.2.2.2 of the election manual only uses the expression; text mode". As per the clause, the draft roll must be put on the chief electoral officer's (CEO) website in a text mode and no photographs shall appear against details of electors. The bench had said a draft roll in text mode was already supplied to the petitioner ahead of the 2018 polls in MP. Clause 11.2.2.2 "nowhere says that the draft electoral roll has to be put up on the CEO's website in a 'searchable PDF'. Therefore, the petitioner cannot claim, as a right, that the draft electoral roll should be placed on the website in a 'searchable mode'. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo It has only to be in 'text mode' and it is so provided," said the bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan. EC sources on Thursday cited this verdict to underline that the Congress's demand is not new and forms part of its strategy for well over eight years. "The demand ... is not tenable within the contours of the prevailing legal framework," said an EC functionary.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'Brightest blast I've ever seen': Fighter pilot recalls Iran strike by B-2 bombers; US shares chilling new details about Operation Midnight Hammer
The US military has revealed new details about the strike on Iran's nuclear site at Fordo, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine recounting the dramatic return of the B-2 crews and the years of secret planning behind the mission dubbed 'Operation Midnight Hammer'. 'This was the brightest explosion I've ever seen—it looked like daylight,' one pilot told Caine after watching the massive 30,000-pound bunker-buster detonate. The crew had taken off not knowing if they would return. When they landed, 'flags were flying and tears were flowing,' Caine said, describing the emotional moment at Whiteman Air Force Base. "A crew member told me when I talked to them on video the other day that this felt like the Super Bowl, the thousands of scientists, airmen, and maintainers all coming together," Caine said. Operation Midnight Hammer targeted Iran's key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The US deployed 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs — steel-encased, fused to detonate at precise depths. Fordow, built deep underground, had two ventilation routes. Each route had three shafts, a main one flanked by two smaller ones, resembling a pitchfork in Pentagon imagery. Days before the strike, Iran placed concrete slabs over these shafts. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like ¡Kit alarma con cámara Wi-Fi: ¡Precio increíble por tiempo limitado! (ver precio) Verisure Alarmas Más información Undo According to Caine, the bombs were refined over years of testing on mock facilities. The aim was to delay detonation until the bomb could release a pressure wave through tunnels, destroying underground enrichment equipment. A strike years in the making Caine outlined the story of two unnamed officers from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), who had studied the Fordo site for over 15 years. 'In 2009, a DTRA officer was brought into a vault at an undisclosed location and shown images of major construction in the Iranian mountains,' he said. The officer, and later a teammate, spent years tracking the site's geology, airflow systems, construction materials, and movement of equipment in and out of the complex. 'They literally dreamed about this target,' Caine said. 'They thought about it driving to work. From the first days, they knew what it was for. You don't build a multilayered underground bunker with centrifuges in a mountain for any peaceful purpose.' Their long effort highlighted one central challenge: the US did not yet have a weapon capable of destroying such a site. So they began working with industry to develop what became the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, Caine said. Testing the GBU-57 for one target Hundreds of tests were conducted to ensure the weapon would work. 'They tested it over and over again. Dropped full-scale weapons on realistic targets. All for one purpose—kill this target at the time and place of our choosing,' said Caine. Then, in June, the call came from President Trump: execute the mission. Operation Midnight Hammer was launched. Crews from the active-duty Air Force and Missouri Air National Guard carried out the mission, departing on Friday and returning Sunday. Caine described what followed: 'Late Saturday night, their families became aware of what was happening. On Sunday, when the jets returned from Whiteman, their families were there, flags flying, and tears flowing. A commander told me, 'This is a moment in the lives of our families they will never forget.'' Jets flew in formation over the base before landing. 'That, my friends, is what America's Joint Force does,' said Caine. Inside the strike zone There was no visible crater at Fordo by design. The GBU-57 is built to penetrate deep before detonating. 'All six weapons hit exactly where they were intended,' Caine confirmed, targeting each vent shaft of the underground complex. 'The primary kill mechanism was a mix of overpressure and blast, ripping through the tunnels and destroying critical hardware.' He said the damage was consistent with extensive modelling, with shockwaves amplifying destruction in the facility's confined spaces. US confident, Iran disputes impact President Trump has described the outcome as 'total obliteration,' with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissing media reports that the damage may have been overstated. However, Iran has disputed the scale of the strike's impact. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said the US had 'exaggerated' its success, insisting it did 'nothing significant' to the programme. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called the damage 'serious' but refused to confirm the programme was crippled. Despite Iranian denials, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed 'extensive damage' at Fordo and other sites, including Natanz and Isfahan.
