Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Congress Monday demanded a white paper from the state government, seeking details of the ‘Srimandir Parikrama’ or the Puri Heritage Corridor project.
The white paper with all information about the project being executed around the Shree Jagannath Temple, including its objective, implementation and cost should be published, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) former president Prasad Harichandan said.
“The Odisha government has announced that it will dedicate the project to the people January 17, 2024… We demand all details about the project for our future generations,” he told reporters here.
The Congress leader also said as a part of its proposed ‘Tulsi Yatra’, basil leaves will be collected from houses across 314 blocks of the state and offered to Lord Jagannath at the temple, in protest against “mismanagement” at the 12th-century shrine.
The yatra will create mass awareness among devotees, and the state government will be forced to open all four gates of the temple as well as its ‘Ratna Bhandar’ (inner chamber of the treasury), which has been closed since 1978, Harichandan said.
Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das had earlier stated that three gates of the shrine are closed due to the heritage project work.
OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak also appealed to people of the state to actively take part in the ‘Tulsi Yatra’.
PTI
