A huge pandal has come up inside Shukhobrishti housing complex in Action Area III as the chariot festival approaches. The complex has a Jagannath temple inside and has been holding rathayatra for eight years now.
“The inspiration for the structure is the Badrinath temple. It comes up at the same place where our Durga puja pandal is built — the ground between K32 and J22 buildings. The festival will take place from July 7 to 15,” said Kshyamadri Maharana of the Rajarhat New Town Jagannath Society.
The idols were brought from Odisha in 2015 and established in a hut. “We started rathyatra that year on a small scale. There were just about a dozen of us with our neighbour Barada Mahanty acting as our president. He is in Germany now but tries to come every year during the festival,” Maharana said. The temple was built over 2017 and opened in January 2018. The idols are worshipped daily.
On Sunday, the chariot is expected to roll around 3pm. “We wait till we receive word about the chariot starting in Puri. In 2015, in the first edition, we had tried starting earlier but the axle of a wheel broke,” he recalled.
“We do not go outside our complex as it becomes difficult to control the crowd,” he added.
There will be cultural programmes held daily and prasad distributed in the evenings.