The 2.5km Bada Danda (Grand Road) was bursting with energy even at 3am on Monday with lakhs of devotees waiting to have a glimpse of the deities — Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra — on their chariots stationed at different points along the stretch.

The chariots had been drawn on Sunday but only for a limited distance so that they could be pulled again by devotees on Monday.

Throughout the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, the 2.5km road was teeming with devotees who arrived by all means from different parts of the state and country.

Volunteers took care to clean up the entire stretch of Bada Danda, which had been littered with garbage including used tea cups, food packets, water bottles and lakhs of sandals left behind by around 10 lakh people who had come to witness the pulling of the chariots on Sunday.

After 53 years, the pulling of chariots was held for two consecutive days as important rituals like Nabjauban Darshan and Netra Utsava coincided with the Rath Yatra. The state government had also declared a two-day holiday for the festival this time.

The Grand Road had to be cleared of the garbage by Monday morning for the seamless pulling of the chariots which began at 9.30am. The chariots reached Shree Gundicha temple, their final destination at 2.45pm on Monday.

Cleaning up the road was a humongous job carried out by hundreds of volunteers, including the staff of the Puri municipality.

Jayanti Biswal, a teacher from Khaira in Balasore district had reached Puri with 70 volunteers to join the cleaning drive. “There is no other service more important than cleaning the Bada Danda. The Jagannath culture teaches us the importance of cleaning as the Puri king, who is the first servitor of the lord himself, sweeps the decks of the three chariots. That’s a symbolic gesture which speaks a lot about our culture and the value of cleanliness,” said Biswal, who along with her team, has been camping in Puri for the last three days to do the cleaning job.

Not only Biswal but hundreds of volunteers were engaged in the job of making the city clean. While the municipality and other agencies were busy cleaning the road, small-time traders did a brisk business. They sold anything from tea to snacks to bric-a-brac on the Bada Danda. “During the Rath Yatra, we do good business,” said Malati Dash who was selling earthen lamps on the road.

By morning, the entire stretch of the Grand Road was cleaned up and ready for the chariots to roll.