United News Of India
Puri, Dec 30: A sum of `Rs 350 crore is being spent for augmentation, renovation and underground cabling of the power supply lines in the holy city of Puri and both sides of Badadanda, the venue of next year’s mammoth Nabakalebar festival, in order to provide uninterrupted power supply during the
festival.
Energy secretary Suresh Mohapatra revealed this to mediapersons soon after Nabakalebar Infrastructure Development Committee chairman Maheswar Mohanty reviewed the preparedness of the power supply sector ahead of the grand festival scheduled to be held in June next year at a meeting Tuesday.
Mohapatra said a special power grid being installed at Samagara village close to the city along the Puri-Konarak marine drive road at a cost of `82 crores is nearing completion. Most of the overhead power supply lines in the city would be laid underground. A major part of the project has been completed, he added. This would minimise power blackouts even during extreme weather conditions and would render service for over fifty years.
He said five km of each of the Puri Konark marine drive, Puri-Bhubaneswar and Puri Brahmagiri roads would be illuminated, and 23 hi-max lights would be installed along the Puri beach. Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das, chief administrator of Srimandir Bikash Chandra Mahapatra, Gridco CMD Hemant Kumar Sharma and Puri district magistrate Arabind Agarwal were present at the
eeting.
Later in the evening, Mohanty held discussions with office-bearers of the daita niyog in the temple. Daitas, a special set of servitors, are known as the protectors of the deities and are used to execute the Nabakalebar rituals of the deities and also for conducting annual Rath Yatra. Mohanty assured them to suitably address their grievances and asked them to perform the rituals and other ceremonies during the festival in time.
