Puri Arpan rice to be sold; committee formed, tender process soon

In a major development, Puri district administration has revealed that the remaining ‘arpan rice’ which has become stale and unfit for use in ‘Mahaprasad’ will be auctioned.

The district administration further informed that the rice will be sold to either to any individual or millers through a tender process. 

As per sources, individuals and millers can buy ‘arpan rice’ by making a spot visit. The money will go to the Shri Jagannath Temple Administration.

A committee headed by the sub-collector has been formed to look after the tender process for the disposal of ‘arpan rice’. The decision has been taken by the Odisha government after an elaborate discussion with various departmental authorities.

Before the inauguration of the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project, ‘arpan rice’ and betelnut were collected from devotees across the state and brought to Puri. It was then decided to use the ‘arpan rice’ for preparing the ‘Mahaprasad’ for free distribution among devotees.

The administration had handed over a huge amount of ‘arpan rice’ to Suar and Mahasuar Nijog to prepare the ‘Mahaprasad’. Later, Suar and Mahasuar Nijog made it clear that the rice worthy for preparing ‘Mahaprasad’ has  been used and the rest of the rice is not suitable for it.

“We will put up a tender process for the auction of the remaining ‘arpan rice’ and the money will be deposited with the temple administration,” said Puri Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain.

“It will be better if the rice will be processed again and ‘Kanika’ prepared from it will be distributed to the devotees,” said Suar and Mahasuar Nijog president Padmanabha Mahasuara.

Meanwhile, the district administration refuted the allegations about dumping of quintals of ‘arpan rice’ in rivers.