Puri turns into a ghost town

The loudest sound to be heard is from the waves crashing on the beach

10/04/2020, SATYASUNDAR BARIK ,PURI

The beach road in Puri on Thursday. Special arrangement

Silhouetted fishermen disappearing into the deep sea in canoes and catamarans long before dawn; hundreds of visitors preparing to dive into the waves; servitors at the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple preparing for intricate rituals — all of these make Puri a tourist haven on India’s eastern coast. But with the lockdown in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, the constantly bustling 17 sq. km. pilgrim hub has turned into ghost town.

Trains have stopped pulling into Puri and there’s barely any traffic on the NH16, which used to have thousands of tourist vehicles racing over it every day. Now, policemen man barricades and emergency vehicles whiz past occasionally, while hardly anyone is to be seen on the 65-km-long drive from the capital city of Bhubaneswar to Puri.

Puri paints the picture of a beautiful temple town without devotees. T

he 3 km-long Grand Road leading to the Jagannath Temple is dotted with temporary fences. Without a valid COVID-19 pass, devotees cannot have a glimpse of the recently revamped temple complex. The crowds of people shopping at hundreds of craft shops and other outlets flanking the Grand Road are absent.

‘Not only Puri’

“This never-seen phenomenon is not associated only with Puri — it prevails the world over. We hope for an early return to normalcy so that devotees throng the town again,” said Balwant Singh, Puri’s District Collector.

“The Jagannath Rath Yatra, scheduled for the month of June, is going on as per plan. The contours of this year’s Rath Yatra have not been discussed by the temple administration. As things will evolve, the chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration will take a call,” said Mr. Singh.

Meanwhile, not a single person can be seen enjoying the vast blue waters of the Bay of Bengal at the famous beach.

“I had never witnessed such silence on this beach in my life,” said A. Bhagwan, a lifeguard, describing it as a silence that was becoming frightening.

Now, the loudest sound to be heard is from the waves crashing on the beach.