CUTTACK: In view of the heavy rush of pilgrims and devotees to Puri for the Rath Yatra, the Commissionerate Police is set to put in place exhaustive arrangements to ensure smooth passage of the people through Cuttack to the Temple City. A police outpost manned by an officer and necessary staff would be set up at the Puri bus stand at Badambadi for the benefit of the thousands of devotees who would start for Puri from the night of July 2 onwards. Adequate number of armed police would also be deployed at the bus stand. Around a lakh of people move for Puri through Cuttack every year for the Rath Yatra festival. The bulk of them use buses and thus the Badambadi area becomes extremely crowded. Unscrupulous operators and bus staff then try to fleece the pilgrims and visitors and charge hefty sums. The bus fares are hiked arbitrarily and passengers also subjected to gross misbehaviour in the process."The effort is to contain such unwarranted activities. The bus stand would be sanitised of touts and other unwanted elements. Anyone found indulging in fleecing or harassing the passengers would be taken to task. Besides, the bus operations, management of passengers and providing information to the people would be taken care of by the police," a senior officer said. The police bandobast at the Puri bus stand, Madhupatna Chhak and Press Chhak would be in force from July 2 night through July 3 and then on 'Bahuda' on July 12 and 'Suna Vesha' on July 13. The Commissionerate Police has also announced No Vehicle Zones at Dolmundai and Chandni Chowk, the two major localities where Rath Yatra is conducted in a grandiose manner on July 3. The connection between Dolmundai and Haripur Road and Pithapur will be curtailed. Likewise, vehicular movement through the Chandni Chowk to Ring Road through Shelter Chhak would be suspended for the day.
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