Ahmedabad, July 16 (IANS) Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi joined the 149th Jagannath Rath Yatra at the Dariyapur area on Thursday evening as the annual procession continued along its traditional route through Ahmedabad.

He was joined by Director General of Police (DGP) G.S. Malik and Ahmedabad Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut from Lolhandwala Hospital in the area.

The senior officials were present at a key point along the Rath Yatra route, where they reviewed the procession’s movement and interacted with officers overseeing security and crowd management.

The visit came as the yatra progressed under an extensive security arrangement put in place by the Gujarat government and Ahmedabad Police for one of the state’s largest annual religious events.

The procession, which began earlier in the day from the historic Shree Jagannath Temple in the Jamalpur area after traditional religious rituals, is following its customary 16.2-km route through the walled city before returning to the temple later in the day.

The Ahmedabad Rath Yatra, held annually on Ashadhi Bij, is regarded as the second-largest Jagannath Rath Yatra in the country after Puri and attracts lakhs of devotees every year.

Ahead of the procession, Sanghavi personally inspected the entire route with DGP Malik and Commissioner Gahlaut, reviewed security arrangements at sensitive locations, and directed officials to ensure the smooth conduct of the event.

This year’s Rath Yatra is being conducted under one of the most extensive security deployments in the city’s history.

More than 30,000 police personnel, including senior officers from the state police, the State Reserve Police Force, and the Central Armed Police Forces, have been deployed along the route.

Authorities have also introduced advanced surveillance measures, including artificial intelligence-enabled monitoring, facial recognition cameras, drone surveillance, GPS tracking, body-worn cameras, and an integrated command-and-control system to monitor the procession in real time.

In addition to security personnel, civic agencies and emergency services remain stationed along the route to provide medical assistance, traffic management, and other essential services as thousands of devotees continue to participate in the centuries-old procession.

–IANS

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