At least one person died and several others injured after a balcony of a house on the route of the annual Lord Jagannath Rath yatra procession collapsed in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The third-floor balcony of the three-storey building collapsed as people were watching the chariot procession in Dariapur locality.
The injured were rushed to the civil hospital where Mehul Panchal (36) died during treatment, inspector JS Chaudhary of Dariapur police station told PTI.
The building was said to be old and dilapidated.
During the 146th Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat police for the first time used 3D mapping technology to monitor the entire route and also deployed anti-drone technology to ensure no unauthorised drones are used during the event, as per a senior police official, reported PTI.
Earlier in the morning, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel performed ‘Pahind Vidhi’, a symbolic ritual of cleaning the way for the chariots using a golden broom. Thereafter, Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra embarked on the yatra on their chariots from the 400-year-old Jagannath Temple in the Jamalpur area.
Home Minister Amit Shah also participated in the “mangala aarti” - an auspicious ritual to pay obeisance to the deity - at the temple in the wee hours. In a tweet, he called the Yatra a “confluence of faith and devotion” and described the experience of the Lord’s “darshan” as “divine and unforgettable”.
The procession, taken out amid tight security, consisted of dozens of elephants, as well as carts pulled by camels and trucks with tableaux on devotional themes. To help the devotees beat the sweltering heat, people sprinkled water and showered flower petals on the procession from their balconies and rooftops, according to PTI.
Police took special precautions in the communally sensitive areas and personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) lined the route.
Security personnel collectively wearing 2,322 body cameras, and 25 vehicles with CCTVs and a GPS system were used to keep a close watch on the entire procession along the 18-km-long route, officials said, reported PTI.
A total of 26,091 security personnel, including officers and policemen, as well as paramilitary forces, were deployed for the Rath Yatra of Ahmedabad, they said. As many as 94 CCTV cameras set up across 45 sensitive locations provided live feed, they added.