Puri: Odisha will witness the grand unveiling of Rs 800-crore heritage corridor around Puri’s renowned Jagannath Temple on Wednesday, coinciding with beginning of a series of traditional rituals before the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A large number of devotees from across Odisha and the country have congregated at Puri for the inaugural ceremony. Representatives from 90 religious shrines and institutions across the country are expected to attend the event. A special auditorium equipped with large digital screens has been set up on the parikrama for 900 guests, who will transported to the venue in electric vehicles.
According to sources, the three-day Maha Yajna, which started on Monday, will conclude around noon with Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, offering ‘Purna Ahuti’ between 1.30 and 2.30 pm. Simultaneously, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will dedicate the project to devotees.
“All the arrangements are in place. Parikrama Project which is going to be inaugurated today is complete in all aspects… We are also making function Shree Marg, Shree Setu and Jagannath Ballav Parking area. The ‘Purna Ahuti’ ritual of the ‘yagya’ which started on January 12, will take place from 1.30 pm onwards… The political dignitaries will start arriving in the town from 10 am. Darshan’ is already going on smoothly… Post the inauguration, the entire parikrama will be open to the public for viewing…,” said Puri Collector Samarth Verma.
All private educational institutions and business establishments will live stream the inauguration from 12 noon to 3 pm.
CM’S SCHEDULE
The CM will arrive at the temporary helipad at Matitita around 1.15 pm and also attend the ‘Purna Ahuti’ ritual. “At 1.30 pm, the CM along with Puri Gajapati will dedicate the project for the use of public from the Lokarpan stage. They will then lead a procession around the heritage corridor around 2 pm. They will be accompanied by dignitaries and cultural troupes,” said Shree Jagannath Temple Administration chief administrator Ranjan Das.
Naveen will also release a number of documentary videos on the project on the occasion.
He further said that the CM will felicitate all involved in the execution of the parikrama plan around 2.30 pm, before leaving for Bhubaneswar.
People will be allowed to enter the parikrama after 3 pm, he added.
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FULL-PROOF SECURITY
The pilgrim town, adorned with flowers, lights, and graffiti, is under four-layer security blanket, which include bomb disposal teams, anti-sabotage teams, and dogs squads to ensure the safety of the area. A total of 80 platoons of police force (one platoon comprises 30 personnel) will be deployed. Additionally, around 100 supervisory officers and 250 sub-inspector and ASI rank officials will be engaged in security duty.
PUBLIC HOLIDAY
The state government has already announced public holiday on Wednesday to allow people to participate in the inauguration. Government offices, schools, and colleges across the state will be remain closed.
ON THE SIDELINES
Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi has also decided to conduct a daylong painting workshop at the site here, where 20 artists would make live paintings on the theme of Shree Mandira Parikrama Prakalpa.
THE PROJECT
The project, which aims to enhance the visual connection between devotees and the shrine, incorporates parking areas, Shree Setu (a bridge), Shree Danda, running parallel to Bada Danda to ease pilgrim movement, pilgrimage centre, restroom facilities, clock rooms, and various other amenities for visitors in and around the Jagannath temple, now centred around an expansive 75-metre parikrama, which provides a clear view of the majestic 214.8 ft-high shrine and, its Neelachakra (blue wheel).
The parikrama, work on which started in 2019, includes a seven-metre wide green buffer zone that protects the outer walls of the temple, Meghanada Pacher, and a ten-metre wide inner ‘pradakshina’ path, which is a pedestrian-only path to be used by devotees for parikrama of the temple.
The outer pradakshina comprises of landscape zones, pilgrim amenities, and emergency service lanes.
The 14-m-wide garden had plants integral to Jagannath culture – saptaparni, patali, baula, kadamba, gangasiuli, katha champa, swarna champa and shrubs like katha rangani, swarna ghanti, galphimia yellow carpet, karabira, sugandharaj and kunda malli. The 8-m outer Pradakshina is also covered by trees on either side, which will act as a shaded pathway for visitors/pilgrims.
The 10-metre public convenience zone is located at a distance of 40 m from the temple’s boundary and has nine restrooms, cloakrooms, drinking water fountains, information-cum-donation kiosks and shelter pavilions for shade and rest. There is a4.5-meter service lane for service vehicles and maintenance of the corridor and another 4.5-meter-wide dedicated to shuttle cum emergency lane for any kind of emergency and disaster management.
A 630-metre long road (Shree Danda) has been constructed at a cost of Rs 90 crore to provide a direct connect from the multi-level car parking inside Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre to Dolabedi (Shree Mandir Parikrama site).
A 2.3 km-long 4-lane Shree Setu (trumpet bridge) has been built at a cost of Rs 200 crore to provide a direct access to tourists to the multi-level car parking inside Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre in the town from the Puri NH bypass while avoiding long traffic snarls. A gate ahas been built to welcome the devotees entering Puri through Shree Setu. There is also a View Tower from where tourists can get a glimpse of the entire city.
Shree Setu, Shri Jagannath Ballav Parking, Shree Marg and other projects are almost ready. The Shree Setu will be opened to the public after its inauguration by the chief minister, Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said after a reviewing preparedness and security arrangements for the inauguration of the Parikrama Project along with 5T (transformational) initiative and Nabin Odisha chairman V K Pandian and DGP in-charge Arun Sarangi on Tuesday.
The Odisha government is also to mobilise around 10,000 people daily for a month to visit the Shreemandira Parikrama Project. Panchayati Raj secretary, S K Lohani, has urged all district collectors to facilitate smooth movement of devotees to Puri and make arrangements for an adequate number of buses for their transportation and comfortable stay at the transit camps. Security has also been ramped up with dignitaries coming in and to systematically control the inrush of devotees into the town.
