Bhubaneswar: A delegation of the Shri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee led by its president and Puri Gajapati King Dibyasingh Deb met chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Thursday and submitted five proposals for the development of the temple periphery for approval during the meeting.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the Gajapati king said the five proposals related to the development of Shri Jagannath temple periphery, the Grand Road (Badadanda), Sri Gundicha temple and Atharanala in Puri.
“The first proposal relates to the development of the temple periphery including renovation of Uttaraparswa Mutt, Dakhinaparswa Mutt and Emar Mutt. The second proposal is development of Sri Gundicha temple. We proposed mural painting inside the Bhitara Bedha of Sri Gundicha temple depicting the excerpts of Skanda Purana mythology of Lord Jagannath for the devotees, a beautiful garden on the Bahara Bedha of the temple with painting on the history of Odisha with special reference to Lord Jagannath on the outer and inner wall of the temple,” he said.
He further said the third proposal relates to the development of a garden of Lord Jagannath inside the Jagannath Ballav Mutt as a heritage garden and other amenities for the tourists and devotees.
“The fourth proposal we presented is on beautification of the Badadanda while the fifth proposal is development of Atharanala at the entry point to Puri town and restoration of its water body,” he added.
The Gajapati King also informed that apart from the five proposals he also discussed two other proposals which were taken up at the temple managing committee meeting a couple of days ago.
The two proposals I discussed with the chief minister are the Srimandira Adarsha Gurukulam for the children of the servitors and the housing scheme for the poor sevayats.
“Under the Srimandira Adarsha Gurukulam scheme, free education would be provided to the children of all the servitors of Shri Jagannath temple. Apart from the modern education, the children would also be taught education relating to Hindu rituals, tradition and culture with an objective to bring out a new generation of servitors,” he observed.
Besides, he also discussed the housing scheme for the poor servitors with the chief minister.
Among others, Law minister Pratap Jena, Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and chief administrator of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Pradip Jena were present at the meeting.
