diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
index e9bcbc819fd0d4fd2947cd5b6187cb51a36c814a..0f573019c552b771c2631cf54932fc68f06e8c7f 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
@@ -7725,6 +7725,35 @@ void
 StartupXLOG_Pass4(void)
 {
 	bool doPTCatVerification = false;
+	char *fullpath;
+
+	/*
+	 * In order to access the catalog, we need a database, and a
+	 * tablespace; our access to the heap is going to be slightly
+	 * limited, so we'll just use some defaults.
+	 */
+	if (!XLogStartup_DoNextPTCatVerificationIteration())
+	{
+		MyDatabaseId = TemplateDbOid;
+		MyDatabaseTableSpace = DEFAULTTABLESPACE_OID;
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		MyDatabaseId = XLogCtl->currentDatabaseToVerify;
+		MyDatabaseTableSpace = XLogCtl->tablespaceOfCurrentDatabaseToVerify;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Now we can mark our PGPROC entry with the database ID
+	 * (We assume this is an atomic store so no lock is needed)
+	 */
+	MyProc->databaseId = MyDatabaseId;
+
+	fullpath = GetDatabasePath(MyDatabaseId, MyDatabaseTableSpace);
+
+	SetDatabasePath(fullpath);
+
+	RelationCacheInitializePhase3();
 
 	/*
 	 * Start with the basic Pass 4 integrity checks. If requested (GUC & No In-Doubt
@@ -11176,8 +11205,6 @@ HandleCrash(SIGNAL_ARGS)
 void
 StartupProcessMain(int passNum)
 {
-	char	   *fullpath;
-
 	am_startup = true;
 	/*
 	 * If possible, make this process a group leader, so that the postmaster
@@ -11294,7 +11321,24 @@ StartupProcessMain(int passNum)
 		 */
 		InitBufferPoolBackend();
 
-		/* heap access requires the rel-cache */
+		/* heap access requires the rel-cache.
+		 *
+		 * Pass 2 uses heap API to insert/update/delete from persistent
+		 * tables.  In order to use the heap API, RelationDescriptor is
+		 * required.  In pass 2, persistent tables are accessed using
+		 * DirectOpen API to obtain the RelationDescriptor.  Hence, we
+		 * don't need to load full relcache as in
+		 * RelationCacheInitializePhase3().
+		 *
+		 * However, there is cache invalidation logic within heap API
+		 * needs basic data structures for catalog cache to be
+		 * initialized.  Hence, we need to do RelationCacheInitialize(),
+		 * InitCatalogCache(), and RelationCacheInitializePhase2()
+		 * before StartupXLOG_Pass2().
+		 *
+		 * Pass 4 needs RelationCacheInitializePhase3() to do catalog
+		 * validation, after xlog replay is complete.
+		 */
 		RelationCacheInitialize();
 		InitCatalogCache();
 
@@ -11306,50 +11350,9 @@ StartupProcessMain(int passNum)
 		 */
 		RelationCacheInitializePhase2();
 
-		/*
-		 * In order to access the catalog, we need a database, and a
-		 * tablespace; our access to the heap is going to be slightly
-		 * limited, so we'll just use some defaults.
-		 */
-		if (!XLogStartup_DoNextPTCatVerificationIteration())
-		{
-			MyDatabaseId = TemplateDbOid;
-			MyDatabaseTableSpace = DEFAULTTABLESPACE_OID;
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			MyDatabaseId = XLogCtl->currentDatabaseToVerify;
-			MyDatabaseTableSpace = XLogCtl->tablespaceOfCurrentDatabaseToVerify;
-		}
-
-		/*
-		 * Now we can mark our PGPROC entry with the database ID */
-		/* (We assume this is an atomic store so no lock is needed) 
-		 */
-		MyProc->databaseId = MyDatabaseId;
-
-		fullpath = GetDatabasePath(MyDatabaseId, MyDatabaseTableSpace);
-
-		SetDatabasePath(fullpath);
-
-		RelationCacheInitializePhase3();
-
 		if (passNum == 2)
 		{
 			StartupXLOG_Pass2();
-			/*
-			 * The cache init file created by
-			 * RelationCacheInitializePhase3() contains critical
-			 * relations and index entries from template1 database.
-			 * XLOG replay in pass 3 may invalidate these entries,
-			 * e.g. redo records for reindex operation on a system
-			 * table in template1.  Therefore, delete the file now
-			 * and let pass 4 rebuild it.  Note that pass 3 does not
-			 * need relcache to operate as it uses resource manager
-			 * redo (rm_redo()) methods to replay xlog rather than
-			 * regular access methods.
-			 */
-			RelationCacheInitFileRemove();
 		}
 		else
 		{
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/cache/relcache.c b/src/backend/utils/cache/relcache.c
index 16b5764d6d3e136c3ca5a0a72de7dcd8fc18e925..41f28b0df72e1e76dd0def579f83d9b6733867a9 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/cache/relcache.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/cache/relcache.c
@@ -3349,6 +3349,13 @@ RelationCacheInitializePhase3(void)
 	MemoryContext oldcxt;
 	bool		needNewCacheFile = !criticalSharedRelcachesBuilt;
 
+	/*
+	 * Relation cache initialization or any sort of heap access is
+	 * dangerous before recovery is finished.
+	 */
+	if (!IsBootstrapProcessingMode() && RecoveryInProgress())
+		elog(ERROR, "relation cache initialization during recovery or non-bootstrap processes.");
+
 	/*
 	 * switch to cache memory context
 	 */
diff --git a/src/test/tinc/tincrepo/mpp/gpdb/tests/storage/crashrecovery/test_reindex_pg_class.py b/src/test/tinc/tincrepo/mpp/gpdb/tests/storage/crashrecovery/test_reindex_pg_class.py
index 0a0523300b139c9b2d5ffdcd64d1b60a08268d05..62df632d3ceff53e8d5d29cb1e0c74f5754aa636 100644
--- a/src/test/tinc/tincrepo/mpp/gpdb/tests/storage/crashrecovery/test_reindex_pg_class.py
+++ b/src/test/tinc/tincrepo/mpp/gpdb/tests/storage/crashrecovery/test_reindex_pg_class.py
@@ -72,9 +72,6 @@ class ReindexPgClass(TINCTestCase):
     def test_reindex_pg_class_template1(self):
         """Test that relcache does not contain stale refilenodes after
         crash recovery.
-
-        This used to happen before we started deleting relcache init
-        file at the end of crash recovery pass 2.
         """
         self.dbname = "template1"
         self.test_reindex_pg_class()