Puri: A dedicated breastfeeding centre will be set up on the premises of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri.
It will come up near the administrative branch office and have a dedicated female attendant to assist visitors, according to a statement issued by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Saturday.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting of SJTA officials. “The breastfeeding centre will provide new mothers a private and safe space to nurse their children while visiting the shrine,” said temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee.
An Odisha-based association of activists had raised the demand, tagging deputy CM Pravati Parida and SJTA on social media on August 6. Two days ago, the women’s wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Puri, also submitted a memorandum to the district collector seeking a breastfeeding centre at the temple.
Earlier this month, the state’s first public breastfeeding centre was opened in Bhubaneswar by the deputy CM, who announced similar spaces at all public and private institutions across the state to support working and lactating mothers.
