Puri: Ahead of Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra, three components of the ambitious Shree Mandira Parikrama Project around the 12th-century shrine in Odisha’s Puri will be readied by June 15.
The progress of the project was discussed at the meeting of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee held under the chairmanship of Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on Monday.
The managing committee members discussed the matter with officials of Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation (OBCC) and Tata Projects. The Parikrama project is being implemented by Tata Projects under the supervision of OBCC, an agency of the state’s Works department.
According to Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Ranjan Kumar Das, the outer access road on all three sides of the shrine, public amenities and road in front of Lions Gate will be handed over to SJTA by OBCC, which is developing the project within 75-metre radius of the temple.
Once it is handed over, a team of SJTA and the district collector will visit to check the quality of construction only after which, the roads and public amenities will be opened for public, he said. The amenities, which are within 55 metre radius of the temple from Meghanada Pracheri, include six toilets and three shelter pavilions in the south, north and west directions of the temple.
The outer access road is 20 metre wide and includes three lanes – mixed traffic lane, shuttle lane and pedestrian path. OBCC is nearing completion of the mixed traffic lane which will be opened for traffic before Rath Yatra. At present, people are using the inner corridor of 55 metre for commuting. Once the outer access road is opened, the inner corridor will be there to work upon without any traffic disruptions, said OBCC superintending engineer P K Panigrahi.
Other works of the project are scheduled to be completed by November-December this year. The work is moving at a slightly slower pace because of multiple factors including lack of adequate stones, traffic movement and weather conditions. But all components of the heritage corridor are expected to be in place by November or December this year, Das said.
The heritage corridor project was unveiled in December 2019 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to transform Puri into an international place of heritage. Undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 331.28 crore, the project includes SJTA building redevelopment, a 6,000 capacity reception centre, Jagannath cultural centre including Raghunandan library, Badadanda heritage streetscape, Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre, multilevel car parking and other amenities.
