BHUBANESWAR: Originally scheduled to be completed by this year’s Rath Yatra, three components of the ambitious Shree Mandira Parikrama Project around the 12th-century Jagannath temple will be readied by Thursday this week.
The progress of the project was discussed by members of the temple managing committee, which met under the chairmanship of Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb on Monday with officials of Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation (OBCC) and Tata Projects. Work on the Parikrama project is being implemented by Tata Projects under the guidance of OBCC, a wing of the Works department.
Chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration Ranjan Kumar Das said under the project which is being developed within 75-metre radius of the temple, the outer access road on all three sides of the shrine, public amenities and road in front of Lions Gate will be handed over to the SJTA by the OBCC.
“After it is handed over, a team of SJTA and the district collector will visit to check the quality of construction only after which, the roads and public amenities will be opened for public,” Das said. The amenities (which are within 55 metre radius of the temple from Meghanada Pracheri) include six toilets and three shelter pavilions in the south, north and west directions of the temple.
The outer access road is 20 metre wide and includes three lanes - mixed traffic lane, shuttle lane and pedestrian path. “We are nearing completion of the mixed traffic lane which will be opened for traffic before Rath Yatra. At present, people are using the inner corridor of 55 metre for commuting. Once the outer access road is opened, we will get the inner corridor to work upon without any traffic disruptions,” said OBCC superintendent engineer Prabhat Kumar Panigrahi.
The temple administrator informed other works of the project are scheduled to be completed by November-December this year. “The work is moving at a slightly slower pace because of multiple factors including lack of adequate stones, traffic movement and weather conditions. But we hope all components of the heritage corridor will be in place by November or December this year,” Das said.
The heritage corridor project was unveiled in December 2019 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to transform Puri into an international place of heritage. Undertaken at an estimated cost of `331.28 crore, the project includes SJTA building redevelopment, a 6,000 capacity Srimandir reception centre, Jagannath cultural centre including Raghunandan library, Badadanda heritage streetscape, Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre, multilevel car parking among other amenities.