Puri: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sambit Patra has urged the Railway Ministry to take steps for making available dry Prasad of Shree Jagannath Temple of Puri at major stations in Odisha.
The Lok Sabha MP from Puri placed this proposal while speaking in Parliament. He suggested Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw hold talks on the feasibility of the proposal with the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and other stakeholders, including the temple priests and the Puri Gajapati Maharaja.
This proposal aims at providing a spiritual experience to train passengers passing through Odisha, said Patra, who is also BJP’s national spokesperson.
The MP noted that the move will allow train passengers passing through Odisha to easily obtain the revered prasad even if their destination is not Puri.
At present, Mahaprasad from Puri Jagannath Temple is only available at Ananda Bazar in Puri. As such, only devotees visiting the temple are able to get Mahaprasad.
“Anyone travelling to or through Odisha wishes to have a darshan of Lord Jagannath but this aspiration is not always realised due to schedule and other constraints. Such people then wish to at least procure the holy Mahaprasad back home,” said Sambit Patra.
Thus, these prasad distribution centres will help fulfill this wish of many devotees and enhance the spirituality of the Puri Jagannath Dham, Patra said, adding that such centres can be opened at major railway stations in like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, and Balasore.
