Members of the Jagannath Sanskruti Surakshya Bahini have asked the State Government to restore the name of Puri to Jagannath Puri.
They claimed that the Pilgrim City was known as Jagannath Puri since time immemorial, but the name was changed to Puri by the British. Addressing mediapersons on Tuesday, president of the organisation and Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Harekrishna Satapathy, said, “There are many other places in the country in the name of Puri which often creates confusion about identity of the Pilgrim City.”
He said the abode of Lord Jagannath is known world over and the Government should take steps to maintain the spiritual feel of the city. “All liquor shops should be closed down. The Government should also look into large-scale encroachment of Swargadwar land,” he said. Satapathy suggested bringing the undivided Puri district under one revenue division for better administration. He said if the Jagannath temple administration works with a definite roadmap, it would be able to generate 1,000 jobs per annum that would centre around Puri temple.
Sarangdhar Raiguru, vice-president of the organisation, spoke about the growing law and order problems in the city. He said a commissionerate of police should be created on the lines of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to curb the criminal activities.