Puri Gears Up For Lord Jagannath's Bahuda Yatra Amid Heavy Security

Security was heightened in Odisha's Puri as the seaside town prepared for Lord Jagannath's Bahuda Yatra, or the return car festival, on Friday. 

The Bahuda Yatra marks the second phase of the annual Rath Yatra, during which Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra return to the 12th-century Jagannath Temple from the Gundicha Temple, about 2.6 km away. 

"We have a multi-layered security arrangement for the festival as the number of devotees is increasing



by the day. 

Our security and crowd management arrangements remain similar to the bandobast made during the Rath Yatra on July 16," ADG Soumendra Priyadarshi said.

Security has been further strengthened following Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi's directive to place greater emphasis on scientific crowd management and real-time information sharing with devotees after the crowd surge during the Rath Yatra left two devotees dead and several others injured, officials said.