Dharmasala for over 3,000 pilgrims near Shri Jagannath Temple

PURI: A Dharamsala with a capacity to accommodate 3,700 pilgrims will be constructed on 10 acre land at Markandeswar Sahi near Shri Jagannath Temple here. Pilgrims can stay at the facility, which will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 135 crore, by paying a nominal fee. This apart, a mega parking lot will be built at Samang village on the outskirts of the town over 43 acre at a cost of Rs 67 crore. It will have space for parking of 420 buses, 258 auto-rickshaws, 549 four-wheelers and 1,054 two-wheelers.

Besides, efforts are on to connect the Trumpet bridge (Sri Setu) with Jagannath Ballav parking place before Rath Yatra on June 20. The project is being executed at a cost of Rs 161 crore.  5T secretary VK Pandian on Saturday visited the under-construction Srimandir Parikrama and asked Tata to expedite the work and complete it before Rath Yatra. He held discussions with executive engineer of Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation SM Padhi in this regard. The 5T secretary was accompanied by district collector Samarth Verma and sub- collector Bhabataran Sahu.