KOLKATA/SERAMPORE: Organizers of the three major raths or chariots in the state - Iskcon in Kolkata, Iskcon in Mayapur and Mahesh in Serampore - expect a record turnout at this year's festival with no restrictions like the past Covid years. Keeping in mind the stampede-like situation near a temple in Panihati during the Danda Mahotsav earlier this month, the administration is putting in place elaborate arrangements in all three places to prevent any untoward incident during Rath and Ulta Rath.
In Kolkata, the Rath Yatra from Gurusaday Road to the Maidan on July 1, its seven-day stay there, and its return on Ulta Rath on July 9, is expected to see a turnout of 20 to 21 lakh people. At Iskcon House on Gurusaday Road, massive ovens are being set up to cook prasad or meals for the devotees who will turn up for darshan. "Devotees have already arrived from the UK, the US, Australia, Russia, Singapore and several countries in Africa," said Iskcon Kolkata vice-president Radharamn Das.
