"Came out very beautifully": Odisha Chief Secretary on Jagannath Heritage Corridor Project

Puri (Odisha) [India], January 18 (ANI): Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena provided insights into the completion of the Shreemandir Parikrama Project on Wednesday, widely known as the Jagannath Heritage Corridor Project.
"All the infrastructure components have been completed. Now, people will have two accesses to come to Jagannath Temple.." he said.
Speaking on the remarkable preservation of the state's rich culture and heritage, Jena expressed satisfaction with the project's architecture, emphasizing its beauty, especially during the night.
"The way the project has maintained the rich culture and heritage of the state is quite evident from the architecture. It has come out very beautifully. In the night it looks more beautiful," he stated.
Jena further highlighted the enthusiastic response from devotees over the past 7-8 days.
"The kind of enthusiasm they are showing shows that the project is going to be very successful, and it will achieve its subjective," he said.
"The Kew management system now has been nicely organised so hopefully hereafter the devotee will not have much problem in reaching the temple," Jena added.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and erstwhile king of Puri, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deba took part in rituals to inaugurate the Shreemandir Parikrama project in Puri on Wednesday.
The Shreemandir Parikrama project aims to enhance the visual appeal and surroundings of the iconic Jagannath Temple. It comes just five days ahead of the Ram temple coronation.
Earlier in the day, Puri District Collector Samarth Verma said that all arrangements are in place and the Parikrama Project is complete and will be open to the public for viewing after the inauguration.
Meanwhile, devotees thronged Lord Jagannath Temple for 'Darshan' ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
"All the arrangements are in place. The Parikrama Project which is going to be inaugurated today is complete in all aspects. Apart from that we are also making the Shree Marg, Shree Setu and the Jagannath Ballabh parking centre functional....'Darshan' is already going smoothly. There is no problem of people having the darshan of Lord Jagannath and Mahaprasad Sevan. Post the inauguration, the entire Parikrama will be open to the public for viewing," Puri District Collector Samarth Verma said speaking to ANI.
Speaking about the security arrangements in place at the temple, Puri Inspector-General (IG) of Police Ashish Kumar Singh said, "All the police arrangements which we had planned, have been implemented. Now, the guests are coming, and they are being properly received by us and our administration and are being settled in the auditorium. If any of the guests want to have 'Darshan', then we are also facilitating that..."
"The general devotees are also having normal 'Darshan'...There are approximately 1000-1200 guests and we have made arrangements for them... The 'Darshan' for the general public is normal. There will only be a 20-25 minute break when the procession will start...," the IG added.
The Jagannath Heritage Corridor Project of Lord Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri has been completed by the Odisha Bridge & Construction Corporation (OBCC) and handed over to the temple administration Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
The Heritage project includes parking places, Shree Setu (a bridge), pilgrimage centres, a new road to facilitate the movement of pilgrims, toilets for male, and female devotees and servitors, clock rooms and electrical work with other visitors' amenities.
Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath, along with sister Devi Subhadra and elder brother Mahaprabhu Shri Balabhadra, are worshipped in Puri (the Purusottama Kshetra). Though no changes have been made in the temple, the area within the 75-metre corridor of the boundary wall of the Jagannath temple has been developed.
Jagannath Temple is one of the four dhammas that every Hindu is advised to visit. (ANI)