Will showcase govt's achievements during rath yatra, says AMC

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will showcase the state government's achievements during the upcoming rath yatra celebrations. "During the rath yatra procession, the AMC will display heritage messages and government's achievements," Standing Committee Chairman Amul Bhatt told the media on Thursday.

When asked about the message, Bhatt clarified that it will be in related to the heritage theme. "[The message will be about] Government achievements in the context of Ahmedabad's heritage city status only. Also, we are going to distribute T-shirts and caps with heritage logo to people," Bhatt added.

Last Thursday, the Standing Committee had said that they would decorate the procession route with colourful lights and posters of heritage messages. The festivities, 141st rath yatra of Lord Jagannath, will take place in the city on July 14, 2018.

The civic body will gift Tulsi saplings to devotees on the occasion. "We have 25,000 Tulsi saplings ready in our nurseries which we are going to gift to the devotees on the occasion of Rathyatra. First we will give saplings to Jagannath temple and then to the devotees," said Bhatt.

On July 3, 2018, the civic body is going to hold a meeting of Ekta Samiti to take a stock of the yatra preparations. The AMC is also concerned about the Shahpur stretch on the route, where infrastructure development work is going on for the upcoming Metro project. "The route at Shapur is narrow and in between, Metro Rail work is going on. We are going to discuss the matter with the authority concerned," remarked Bhatt.