Construct Guest Houses In Puri For Pilgrims Of Each District: LoP Urges Odisha CM

Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik has shot a letter to CM Naveen Patnaik seeking allotment of appropriate patches of land in Puri in favour of each district of the State and construct Guest Houses/Bhawans for the welfare of pilgrims from the concerned districts.

Keeping in view the problems faced by pilgrims in Puri coming from other districts, Naik requested to allot half acre of land in a compact patch of land in the pilgrim city with a good guest house/Bhawan in the name of the concerned district so that the pilgrims can comfortably stay in the Guest Houses/Bhawans of their respective districts at Puri like the guest houses constructed at New Delhi for each state.

"Local devotees of all districts of Odisha frequently come to Puri to get a glimpse of Lord Jagannath and also during the festive occasions like Car Festival, Bahuda Yatra, Kartik Purnima, Dola Purnima, Nagarjun Besa, Suna Besa, Tila Saptami. The poor ones are unable to get a shelter in Puri, as such they face a lot of problems," Naik mentioned in the letter.

"Prior to 1959, the devotees coming to Puri were staying at the inns/houses at Batamangala ( right side ) owned by the Pandas. The Pandas were taking the devotees to the temple with proper identity. But now most of the inns of the Pandas have been either demolished or in a damaged condition which has forced the pilgrims to either stay at hotels or return home. It will be better to provide a Government accommodation to each devotee at Puri for smooth darshan of Lord Jagannath, which is why I think guest houses and any other accommodation at low cost has to be provided to devotees by the State Government," the letter stated.

The Opposition Leader also lauded the Odisha government for its efforts in beautifying Puri into a world-class heritage city.