3 Lakh Visit Jagannath Temple In Digha For Rath Yatra Festival: ISKCON
Digha, West Bengal:
An estimated three lakh devotees visited the new Jagannath temple in Digha on the day of Rath Yatra and the preceding day, a senior ISKCON monk said.
International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Vice-President Radharaman Das also told PTI that 70,000-1 lakh people are likely to visit the temple every day till the 'Ulto Rath' (return car festival) on July 4.
ISKCON is entrusted with the job of performing the rituals and puja of the deities - Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladev and Devi Subhadra - in the Digha temple.
"Altogether three lakh pilgrims visited the temple premises on the two days of Netrotsav (the day of the deities getting vision)," Das said on Saturday.
Asked about the expected turnout of pilgrims in the coming week till 'Ulto Rath', he said, "We are anticipating 70,000-1 lakh devotees on an average every day." People are visiting the temple and their number has been steady every day despite intermittent rains, the monk said.
All rituals are being performed before the deities now stationed at another temple, considered their aunt's place, which is around 750 metres from the main shrine, he said.
Around 33 lakh people had visited the temple since its inauguration on April 30, Das said.
A Digha Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA) official said, "The seaside resort has also turned into a religious tourism hub in West Bengal. We expect the turnout to be higher by next year." West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the temple in Digha in April.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Delhi prepares for its first-ever artificial rain to combat air pollution: Here's how it will work
In a first for the national capital, Delhi is set to witness artificial rain with a goal of reducing air pollution in the city. The flight plan for the cloud seeding operation has been submitted by IIT Kanpur to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Pune for technical coordination and set to be implemented between July 4 and 11, PTI reported. Pollution control effort Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced on Saturday that the "conditions are not suitable for cloud seeding until July 3, but a flight window has been proposed between July 4 and 11." He added that a proposal has also been sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), requesting the trial to be conducted at a later date. Also Read | Rain lashes parts of Delhi, IMD forecasts more showers in next 2 hours "Our aim is to give Delhiites clean air," Sirsa emphasised, asserting that it's the most basic right of every resident, and the government is exploring every possible solution to achieve it. "That's why we're taking this bold step of artificial rain. We are hopeful it will bring meaningful change," he added. Addressing political accusations Earlier, AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that BJP and the Centre hindered the city's pollution-control efforts and mocked the proposal for artificial rain during peak winter pollution. Responding to those allegations, Sirsa clarified, "We were the ones who signed the MoU first, made all the payments to IIT Kanpur, and applied for the necessary approvals because we want to take real action." Also Read | Air quality panel signs MoU to reduce dust pollution in Delhi, nearby areas "They didn't do anything except talk about artificial rain. We, on the other hand, have worked sincerely. That's why, within just four months of forming the government, we are at the stage of finalising the date for Delhi's first artificial rain," he added. How does artificial rain work ? The project, titled 'Technology Demonstration and Evaluation of Cloud Seeding as an Alternative for Delhi NCR Pollution Mitigation', will involve five aircraft sorties. Each sortie will last around 90 minutes and cover approximately 100 square kilometres over low-security air zones in northwest and outer Delhi. Also Read | Only 1 in 3 Delhi residents feel BJP govt has acted to reduce pollution: Survey A modified Cessna aircraft will disperse a scientifically formulated seeding mixture using flare-based systems. This unique formulation, developed by IIT Kanpur consists of silver iodide nanoparticles, iodised salt, and rock salt, designed to catalyse artificial rain by accelerating droplet formation in moisture-rich clouds which will effectively wash away pollutants from the environment. (With inputs from PTI)
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
CJI Gavai bats in favour of Article 370 abrogation, quotes Ambedkar's ‘one nation, one Constitution' stance
Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Saturday said Dr BR Ambedkar envisioned one Constitution for the country to keep it united and never favoured the idea of a separate constitution for a state. CJI Gavai was speaking at the inauguration of the Constitution Preamble in Nagpur, where he said that the Supreme Court drew inspiration from Ambedkar's vision of a united India under a single Constitution while upholding the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, news agency PTI reported. Justice Gavai was part of a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, that unanimously upheld the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370. "When Article 370 was challenged, it came before us, and when the hearing was underway, I recalled Dr Babasaheb's words that one Constitution is suited for a country... If we want to keep the country united, we need only one Constitution," he said, while addressing the gathering in Marathi. On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip Jammu and Kashmir of special status and divide it into two Union Territories. According to the PTI report, Justice Gavai said Dr Ambedkar had been criticised, saying the Constitution provides for too much federalism, and in times of war, the country may not remain united. However, he had responded, saying the Constitution would suit all the challenges and keep the nation united, the CJI said. "See the situation in the neighbouring countries, be it Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Whenever our country faces challenges, it has remained united," Justice Gavai said. National Conference (NC) Lok Sabha MP Aga Ruhullah said on Saturday that their party's struggle is not focused on restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir but rather on reclaiming the constitutional guarantees that were in place before the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. "My party can go to court, but I will only remind that our fight is not for statehood, our fight is for more than that. It is for those constitutional guarantees that were snatched from us in 2019," Ruhullah told reporters in Srinagar. In response to NC chief Farooq Abdullah's comments about moving Supreme Court if the restoration of statehood is inordinately delayed, Ruhullah emphasised, "We should not forget our fight." According to the PTI report, the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar reiterated that the party's goal is to reverse the Centre's decisions to abrogate Article 370 and reorganise the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. "The BJP has said in its manifesto as well as in the Parliament that statehood will be restored. The allied teams of the BJP (in J&K) also said they will fight for the statehood, but NC's fight is not for statehood," Ruhullah said.
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
ISIS Maharashtra chief, 2002-03 Mumbai blast convict Saquib Nachan dies in Delhi
Terror convict and chief of the Maharashtra ISIS module, Saquib Nachan, died at a Delhi hospital on Saturday, days after suffering a brain hemorrhage. Nachan was not only convicted in the 2002 and 2003 Mumbai blasts case, but was also convicted of planning terror attacks in the country by aligning with Khalistani was also an active member of banned terror outfit Nachan was convicted in 2016 for his role in bomb blasts in 2002-03 in Mumbai. After completing 10 years of imprisonment, he was released from prison, the official joined ISIS after being released from jail in 2017 and started recruiting people by giving them Sabath at his village Borivali in Padgha area of Maharashtra's Thane. He also trained them to carry out terror attacks in India. He also declared his village as Al Sham (Syria) and said that it was a liberated zone which only followed the Sharia law and not the law of the 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at Padgha as part of a nationwide crackdown on the terror outfit ISIS and arrested several persons, including the raids, NIA officials recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition, cash, and radicalisation literature from his home. It was also found that Nachan was in touch with some top handlers of ISIS in Syria. advertisementEarlier this month, the Maharashtra ATS raided his residence and other places of his accomplices in a terror conspiracy case. According to officials, Nachan was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, June 24, after his health deteriorated. His condition worsened on Saturday, and he died at 12.10 pm, reported PTI, quoting an body will be handed over to his family after post-mortem, and his last rites will be performed on Sunday at Borivali village near Padgha, he said.- EndsWith inputs from PTI
