BHUBANESWAR/PURI: In a major decision, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration on Saturday hiked the medical health insurance coverage for servitors from the existing Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. After a meeting of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, chief administrator Ranjan Das said the decision will go a long way in meeting the insurance needs of the servitors.
The managing committee also approved more assistance under which servitors will be provided financial aid of Rs 50,000 for the marriage of a daughter. Earlier, the SJTA provided Rs 30,000 for the purpose. Similarly, the amount for conducting rituals like ‘Brata Ghara’ and ‘Sudhi Kriya’ has also been hiked from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.
This apart, regular staff of the temple will be provided reimbursement cost of medicine (RCM) facility by the SJTA under which they can get medical bills up to Rs 12,000 reimbursed.The RCM facility has been introduced as a replacement for the medical allowance (0.65 per cent) that was previously provided to the staff.
“The medical allowance was nominal and not many could avail it. Hence, we decided to replace it with HCM for their benefit,” Das said.
On the day, the SJTA also gave its NOC to Odisha Bridge & Construction Corporation Limited to construct a parallel road from the Jagannath Ballav Pilgrim Centre site to Dola Bedi to reduce the devotees crowd on Bada Danda (Grand Road). This road can serve as a green corridor for the devotees to reach the temple. The pilgrim centre project - located 500 metres away from the main shrine - consists of multi-level car parking, a pilgrim reception centre, cloak rooms and bathing complexes.
It was also decided that unused assets of Srimandir will be disposed of and the sale proceeds will be used to create permanent assets for the temple’s revenue generation. The encroachments at Matitota and Harichandi Sahi will be removed for setting up of the Srimandir Adarsha Gurukul and Sevayat housing projects respectively. Besides, the Endowments department has been given the responsibility for the development of Bauli Matha.
For Panchuka darshan during the ongoing Kartika month, the SJTA said it will facilitate the setting up of temporary toilets on the stretch between Marchikot and Singhadwar for the convenience of devotees during this period.