PURI: Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain on Monday cleared the air over Habisyali Brata Yojana started by the previous government for the benefit of elderly women devotees.
Amid apprehensions of scrapping of the scheme by the BJP government, Swain said it will continue as usual this year. He said the district administration will host 2,500 habisyalis who will observe the month-long Kartika brata in Puri this year. The brata is slated to begin from October 18. Online applications from devotees shall be received from the first week of October.
The administration will take care of the devotees’ boarding and food (mahaprasad). This apart, the devotees will be facilitated for observance of rituals, bathing and darshan of the Trinity at Shree Jagannath Temple. Doctors will be posted in the town to take care of the health of the elderly women.
The previous BJD government had initiated the project to enable poor elderly devotees to observe the holy Kartika brat free of cost in Puri. Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik had dedicated a seven-storey building to accommodate 1,000 habisyalis in the town.
In another development, the collector said at least 10 tonne of ‘arpan rice’ which has become stale and unfit for use in mahaprasad will be auctioned. He said the rice will be sold to either millers or individuals and not any institution. A committee headed by the sub-collector has been formed to look after the tender process for disposal of arpan rice.
Sources said before the inauguration of the Srimandir parikrama corridor, arpan rice, betelnut and dakshina were collected from devotees across the state and brought to Puri. It was then decided to use the arpan rice for preparing the mahaprasad for free distribution among devotees.
The administration had handed over nearly two tonne of arpan rice to Suar and Mahasuar Nijog (association of temple cooks and chief cooks) to prepare the mahaprasad. While the Nijogs did it for a couple of weeks, they discontinued the practice.