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Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar
With less than 48 hours to go for the famed rath yatra in Puri, a crack has been detected in the axle of Darpadalana, one of the three chariots.
Painters giving final touches to the chariot detected the crack, officials said late Thursday. Sources told rediff.com the crack is in the portion that regulates the brakes.
Earlier, some experts had expressed concern over the state of the chariots being used in the festival.
But temple and district administration were confident of their arrangements and assured that nothing would happen during the yatra. "There is nothing to worry about. The engineers have checked the crack and assured us that it will not lead to any mishap," said a senior Public Works Department official.
However, one of the carpenters involved in maintaining the chariots told rediff.com that a crack in the chariot was a "bad omen."
Senior administrative officials had recently surveyed the three chariots and failed to notice the wide crack in Darpadalana axle.
About 700,000 people throng the 3 km road near the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri to witness the rath yarta.
ALSO SEE: Choppers to oversee security during rath yatra
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