PURI: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his Education counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan offered prayers to the Patitapaban image of Lord Jagannath at the gate of Srimandir during their visit to Puri on Thursday.
Since the Sri Jagannath temple is open only for local residents from August 16 to 20, the Union Ministers opted to have darshan of the Patitapaban. This was Vaishnaw’s first visit to Srimandir after being sworn in as a Cabinet Minister.
The duo was accorded a warm welcome by local BJP workers who escorted them to the temple in a motorcycle rally. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration also welcomed the Union Ministers on their arrival at the temple gate.
Later, addressing mediapersons, Pradhan said the Centre will extend all help in setting up the Odia University at the site of Bakula Bana Vidyalaya in Satyabadi. The university will be a centre for experiments of the new education policy. Efforts are on to impart teaching technical subjects like engineering and medical study in Odia language.
The Union Education Minister further informed that 50,000 villages of the State will be connected with internet facility soon. On the day, a delegation of Puri Bikash Parishad submitted a memorandum to Vaishnaw demanding rail connectivity to Konark, a popular heritage site, to boost tourism and pilgrimage.
Though a survey for laying 34-km railway track to connect Konark was completed years back and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured to bear 50 per cent of the project cost, no visible action has been taken in this regard by the railways, the memorandum stated. The Railway Minister said he will look into the matter.
BJP State president Samir Mohanty, local MLA Jayant Sarangi and national spokesperson Sambit Patra accompanied the Union Ministers.