Puri: The Orissa Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) has sought a piece of land near Srimandir from the district administration to open a depot for supplying firewood to the 12th century shrine’s kitchen.
According to sources, OFDC general manager has written to district Collector Aravind Agrawal asking him to allocate a piece of land near the south gate of Srimandir for opening the depot.
It is learnt that the OFDC had opened a depot near Srimandir south gate in 2005 to supply firewood to the shrine kitchen and locals. However, the corporation was forced to close the depot for facilitating the construction of a drain near the Meghanada wall of the temple in 2016.
Subsequently, OFDC authorities had engaged an agent to collect firewood from the corporation and sell it to the Suar and Mahasuar servitors for cooking of Mahaprasad. However, the agent discontinued his work April 6, this year.
A few servitors had raised the firewood issue at the first Rath Yatra coordination meeting a few days ago. They claimed that Suar and Mahasuar servitors are facing problems to cook Mahaprasad due to shortage of firewood at Srimandir kitchen.
“The OFDC has identified a plot near Srimandir south gate for the depot. It has also sought cooperation in this regard from the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and Puri divisional forest officer,” said a source in the district administration.
In another development, the SJTA has decided to set a few sheds at Srigundicha temple to provide proper dining facilities to devotees during the annual Rath Yatra. It has also decided to upgrade facilities at the temple kitchen by installing additional exhaust fans.
“We will remove silt from a well near the shrine kitchen and set up a godown adjacent to it,” said an official of SJTA.
Notably, Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are worshipped at the Srigundicha temple for a few days during the annual car festival.
