BHUBANESWAR, July 13, 2013: While the state government pooled its resources for smooth conduct of RathYatra after the Bodh Gaya blasts, rampant misuse of cordon passes has come to the fore. On the first day of the nine-day mega festival on Wednesday police destroyed 20 fake passes.

"We suspect the district administration blindly distributed cordon passes. During frisking, we were shocked to find some vehicle with colour photocopies of the original passes," a senior police officer revealed on condition of anonymity. "Since our main aim was to control the crowd, we tore the passes and let off the violators," the police officer said.

Cordon passes are issued to only those who have duty around the chariots, cordoned off by police. Considering the security hazards involved in cordon passes, the home department had asked the Puri district administration to print only 400. But sources said more than 1,000 were issued and most to relatives of politicians, senior bureaucrats, police officers and entrepreneurs.

Odisha Police had asked the Puri administration to place high security hologram stickers on the passes to avoid manipulation. "Since the Puri collector is the issuing authority of cordon passes, we had written to him through the SP (Puri) to take fullproof security measures prior to publication of the passes," IG (personnel) Sanjeeb Panda told TOI. "We will again urge the district administration to adopt the safety measure during Rath Yatra next year," Panda said. Despite repeated attempts, Puri collector Naba Kumar Nayak was not available for comment.

"Though the government sounded terror alert during Rath Yatra, this is shocking that the administration distributed passes blindly to people, endangering the lives of pilgrims. The government should curb the menace next year," said Jayant Kumar Patsani, a local resident.

The Puri district administration had no information about the beneficiaries of cordon passes, issued during Rath Yatra last year, according to a RTI revelation. Replying to a query from a lawyer, Siba Prasad Mishra, through RTI as to how many cordon passes were issued and their names and addresses, the district administration furnished the reply saying: "No register has been maintained."

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 13, 2013.