Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday reviewed the state administration’s preparations for the Rath Yatra that will kick off on June 20 in Puri where more than 10 lakh people are expected to congregate.

During the review meeting, Patnaik stressed the need for an uninterrupted power supply to the pilgrim town during the Rath Yatra.

Patnaik said: “Mahaprabhu (Lord) Jagannath is the greatest identity of every Odia. The entire world is waiting for the Lord’s Rath Yatra. It’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure that the Rath Yatra passes off peacefully.”

During the review through video conferencing, Patnaik asked all the departments to make a coordinated effort so that all rituals of the deities are completed according to schedule.

However, the unscheduled power cuts going on across the state during this summer continue to haunt the administration. It remains worried whether it would be able to smoothly organise the Rath Yatra if there are unplanned power cuts.

Keeping it in mind, the state administration has directed all its line departments to keep an adequate number of generators ready and make a backup plan for this.

Private distribution company Tata Power, which is in charge of the distribution of power, assured the state government that it has doubled up its resources and would be able to meet the challenges if there is a sudden power cut because of Nor’wester.

Even the ruling BJD has upped the ante against the Tata Power. “Can I request TP Central Odisha and Tata Power to please put their latest disaster recovery and business Continuity plan in the public domain on the social media? I want to see the timelines mention there for recovery of different critical services,” tweeted BJD’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik.

Energy minister Pratap Keshari Deb, who attended the review meeting at Puri, refrained from making any comments despite repeated queries by the reporters on the issue of power cuts, particularly whether an assurance can be given that there would be no power cut during the Rath Yatra.

Senior servitor Rama Chandra Das Mohapatra said: “Power cuts are going on in Puri. No detailed discussions were held on this issue.”

The nine-day Rath Yatra will begin from June 20. Although the deities would return near the temple on June 28 completing the nine-day sojourn, the deities will remain in front of the shrine for another three days on their chariots before entering their abode on July 1, on the day of Niladri Vije.

Apart from power cuts, the other issue that was discussed during the review meeting is the completion of the work on various projects going on around the 12th-century shrine.

Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, Ranjan Kumar Das, said: “All the developmental works near the shrine would be completed within two days.”

On the other hand, the work of the three chariots of the deities — Nandighosh (Lord Jagannath), Taladhwaja (Lord Balabhadra) and Darpadalan (Goddess Subhadra) is going on in full swing and will be completed on June 19, just a day before the Rath Yatra.