Tight security around the temple complex for the Rath Yatra

Digha had been put under heavy security cover, with an estimated 3,000 police personnel deployed to maintain law and order.

About 10 senior police officers in the rank of sergeants drawn from Kolkata traffic police had been drafted into the force and camping in Digha to oversee overall security arrangements and traffic management over the auspicious Yatra.

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The entire stretch of 1 km from the Jagannath temple to the old Jagannath temple, which will be the aunt’s house of Lord Jagannath, has been put under CCTV surveillance.

Meanwhile, crowds have been building up since morning as soon as the doors of the temple had been thrown open to the public.

Crowds bubbling with enthusiasm waited in long queues at the new temple before the idols were mounted on the three raths kept ready for its landmark journey to their aunt’s house.

At aunt’s house, grand preparations are in full swing to cook the 56 varieties of bhog to be dedicated to Jagannath.

Police and security agencies are busy in throwing tight security cover to regulate crowds building up all the time after the chief minister made it clear that the crowds would be off the roads, while the yatra would begin at 2.30 p.m. this afternoon.

The crowds would be barricaded. They would touch the auspicious rope that pulls the chariots.