Car festival of the Lord got off to a colourful start here on Monday with religious fervour. The major highlight of the annual festival is that Muslims and Christians rubbed shoulders with Hindus to pull the strings of the chariot.

The bustling port town lays claim to fame for tolerant religious practices among adherents of divergent religions. The Rath Yatra bears testimony to the communal amity prevailing in this region, quipped Baishnab Mohanty, a trustee member of local Jagannath temple.

"Our mode of observing the Yatra differs from the rest. We extend red carpet to Muslims and Christians of the port town to pull the strings of chariot that adorns Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra."

The non-Hindu devotees who take active part in the festivals are mostly the employees of Paradip port trust. This year was no exception. Many of them converged at Madhuban and offered prasad to the deity.

Unlike elsewhere, the non-Hindus are conferred the rights to offer puja at the Lord and pull the chariot here, Mohanty told.

In fact, the gates of the Jagannath temple have been thrown open to Muslims and followers of other religions since temple came up here in early seventies.

The 60-foot tall 'Aruna Stambha' (the holy pillar erected near the temple entry gate for a distant view of God) speaks the story itself. A concrete arch adorns the top of the pious pillar with the engraving of holy symbols of major religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism.

The temple is comparatively new and is bereft of architectural design. There is no restriction or inhibition for non-Hindus including Muslims to visit the temple since the day of its building in 1972.

The claim to fame of this Jagannath temple lies in the fact that Muslims do the Darshan of the Lord here unlike rest of the Hindu temples in the state, narrated Mohanty.

"After the port civil township came up in late sixties, some employees of the port trust volunteered to build the temple. With generous donation of all employees of the port trust, the temple was built in 1972. The donors then also included employees who were from minority communities," recalled Mohanty, who retired from port trust job sometime back.

"Then there was little divide on religious lines and we resolved to extend darshan rights to minority religious groups to reciprocate their generous help for the temple building."