GANDHINAGAR: Security has been strengthened in all sensitive areas in Gujarat in view of the Lord Jagannath rath yatra on Friday, in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Ayodhya temple on Tuesday.

A spokesman of the Government said that the police had been asked to keep extra vigil because the yatra would coincide with Friday prayers and in many places, particularly in Ahmedabad, the timings of the two events would clash. It is believed that the police have been tipped off by some Central intelligence agencies about a possible terrorist attack at religious places or on processions.

The rath yatra is taken out from over 90 places in the State every year. This has always been a testing time for the police due to skirmishes between the majority and miniority communities.

Prohibitory orders have been clamped in the State banning assembly of more than four persons at a place — barring the yatra — and carrying sharp weapons, including "trishuls" and "dharias."

The police in Bhavnagar, where the second biggest rath yatra after Ahmedabad would be taken out, said they would not allow even those joining the yatra to carry trishuls.In Ahmedabad, the rath yatra will begin from the Jagannath temple in the minority-dominated Jamalpur locality in the morning and will end at the same place in the evening after passing through communally-sensitive areas.More than 15,000 police and para-military forces have been deployed to oversee the 128th annual rath yatra.

The police will also videograph the entire yatra, erect watch-towers at communally-sensitive spots, and prevent the shouting of provocative slogans.

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