Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday dedicated the much-awaited Shree Mandir Parikrama Prakalpa, also called Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor Project, to the public.
Patnaik and Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb customarily broke coconuts in front of the Parikrama plaque to dedicate the project to devotees.
The king Dibyasingha Deb arrived at the 'Maha Yajna' place ahead of the inauguration of the Parikrama project. He performed the 'Purnahuti' to conclude the Yajna.
With the ‘Purnahuti’, Mandal Pujan rituals for ‘Maha Yajna’, the precursor to the inauguration ceremony of Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa, in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri, ended on Wednesday.
All government offices, schools, and colleges of the state remained closed today. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had invited representatives from 90 religious shrines and institutions across the country to attend the function.
The project was conceived in 2016 and announced in December 2019. It got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the issuance of draft by-laws by the National Monuments Authority (NMA) for the temple in January 2021 that prohibited any construction work within a 100-metre periphery of the temple.
On December 31, 2023, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had approved Rs 155.88 crore for creating people’s awareness at the panchayat level about Rs 800-crore Shree Mandir Parikrama Prakalpa.
The project features all modern amenities, including a queue management facility for 6,000 devotees, baggage screening facility, cloakroom for keeping belongings of nearly 4,000 families, drinking water, toilet facilities, facilities for washing hands/feet, information-cum-donation kiosks, shelter pavilions for shade and rest, multi-level car parking, dedicated shuttle cum emergency lane for accommodating police, fire and emergency vehicles, an integrated command and control centre and souvenir shop among others.
The state government has also invested in constructing a 1.5 km-long 4-lane Shree Setu (trumpet bridge) for Rs 200 crore to provide direct access to tourists, aiming to avoid traffic congestion inside Puri.
Additionally, a 630-meter-long road (Shree Danda) costing Rs 90 crore is being constructed. It connects the multi-level car parking inside Jagannath Ballav pilgrim center to Dolabedi, bypassing the Bada Danda (Grand Road).
