Cuttack: The famous Bada Ossa Jatra at the Dhabaleswar Shrine has been cancelled for this year with the clamping of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC for an indefinite period by the district administration on Monday.
“The Jatra will not be held since Section 144 has been imposed by the Sub Collector. Only rituals will be held in the shrine. The bridge has been declared unsafe. So we will make arrangements accordingly,” said Sidharth Kataria, in-charge SP of Cuttack.
However, the rituals of Panchaka and Bada Osa will be carried out as usual at the shrine but without participation of devotees, according to the priests of the shrine.
Athagarh Sub Collector Hemant Kumar Swain imposed Section 144 at the shrine after technical experts from Kolkata and Mumbai declared the suspension bridge over the river Mahanadi unsafe.
The suspension bridge connects the Dhabaleswar shrine which is on an island inside the river Mahanadi with the mainland.
The Cuttack district administration pulled up its socks after the suspension bridge collapsed at Morbi over the Machhu river in Gujarat on Sunday in which at least 141 people were killed.
Also Read: Sec 144 Imposed At Dhabaleswar Shrine, Visit Of Devotees Prohibited
