Rath Yatra: Preparations in place to tackle heat wave conditions in Puri 

For the Puri district administration, this year’s Rath Yatra is going to be a major challenge in view of the prevailing heat wave conditions that have been throwing normal life out of gear for the last couple of days.
 

Keeping this in view, the administration has made elaborate arrangements. While it has stocked about 25 lakh water bottles, volunteers have been roped in to distribute them among the devotees at the grand road and the sea beach. 

“We have stocked 25 lakh water bottles and will set up store yard. So we think we can provide sufficient water bottles to the pilgrims,” said Abhimanyu Barik, an RWSS engineer. 

“We will supply water bottles to the devotees. Besides this, we will also take patients to ambulance points from where they would be rushed to hospitals,” said a volunteer. 

Similarly, the water sprinkler system is in place to check the temperature from rising in the crowd. For this, there are machines for spraying, sprinkling, and misting of water. As chances of devotees becoming ill and losing sense are high, as many as 72 ambulances are kept in place to shift them to hospitals through Green Corridor. 

At the same time, the health department has set up primary health centers apart from keeping AC-supported beds at different hospitals for sun-stroke patients. 

“We have made arrangements for AC beds. There will be one such bed in each PHCs, two beds in each CHCs and 50 beds at the district headquarters hospital (DHH). This apart, a dedicated team will be there. We will deploy 33 ambulances on the Grand Road alone. We will also keep some ambulances at sea beach, railway station and bus stand,” informed CDMO Dr Sujata Mishra. 

Informing about the arrangements on Rath Yatra day, ADM Puri Pradeep Kumar Sahu said, “We have made arrangements for spraying water so that devotees won’t have blisters. This part, we have stationed ambulances with a Green Corridor being set up.”

Since Puri is a coastal city, the level of humidity in its air is higher than in any other place. This is why, people here experience hot and sultry weather conditions. According to the IMD, Puri on Sunday recorded 76 percent humidity at 11.30 am and it went up to 78 percent at 2.30 pm. Weathermen have forecast that the humidity would be more than 70 percent on Rath Yatra day. 

“On Rath Yatra day, Puri will witness humidity over 70 percent. If it rains, then the devotees will have a huge respite,” said weather expert Sarat Chandra Sahu.  

“Since the sea is nearby, some amounts of water vapors will flow towards the land and they will retain the heat. So, even if the temperature will be 40 degree Celsius, people will experience the heat of 50 degree Celsius,” informed environmentalist Jayakrushna Panigrahi.