Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the New Year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday unveiled the draft architecture of the Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor in Puri.
Presiding over a high level meeting convened to discuss about the project at the
Lok Seva Bhawan here, Patnaik sought suggestions from the people on the draft plan. He requested the people to send their suggestions by January 15 next to help the government to come up with the final plan by February 2020.
Speaking on the occasion, Naveen expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the people of Odisha, particularly the people of Puri, for their cooperation and active participation in development of the Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor project.
The government will engage top professionals for proper planning of other components, including security and functionality of the temple, he said.
“The names of all who have donated their land for this great project will be engraved for eternity in the heritage corridor and the land acquired for the heritage corridor will be recorded in the name of Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannath,” announced the Chief Minister.
Interested people and organisations can submit their suggestions through e-mail – jagannath.or@nic.in and Fax – 06752-252100 and landline – 06752-252900.
Notably, keeping in mind the security of Shree Jagannath Temple, houses, structures, mutts, etc. falling on land within a radius of 75 meters of the temple have been evicted and cleared. The government has taken up work for its development and beautification.
During the meeting, Private Secretary to the CM VK Pandian said that the heritage corridor project was ideated in January 2016.
Stating that Chief Minister is a big devotee of Lord Jagannath, Pandian shared his experience during the January 2016 visit of Naveen to the temple.
“Usually during the New Year, hoardings with pictures of Lord Jagannath and his siblings are put up along the roadside on the Bhubaneswar-Puri route. During a visit to Puri January 1, 2016 to pay obeisance to the deities, Naveen paid respects to Lord Jagannath’s photos on the hoardings as well. I was watching the CM from the rear seat of the car and also inside the temple and found him to be a different person,” he said.
During journey from Puri to Bhubaneswar, the Chief Minister proposed to do something for the beautification of Shree Jagannath Temple. Subsequently, a decision was taken to shift the Puri jail, which was located near Bada Danda, the 5T secretary added.
To develop Puri into a World-Class Heritage City, the State Cabinet has already approved Rs3,208 crore under the ABADHA scheme. The heritage corridor will have beautiful gardens, seating arrangements and rest sheds for devotees along with passage with various amenities.
