BJP MPs bat for Jagannath, Sun temples in list of iconic tourist sites

Bhubaneswar: The BJP MPs from Odisha in both houses of Parliament have requested Union tourism minister Prahlad Singh Patel to include Puri Jagannath Temple and the Sun Temple in Konark in the list of iconic tourist sites.
In a letter addressed to Patel on August 6 and released to the media on Friday, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi along with eight Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha members from the state moved the minister to include the two monuments in the list of iconic tourist sites and sanction suitable budgetary provisions for their comprehensive development. “The matchless mix of heritage and spirituality makes the Jagannath Temple in Puri and the Sun Temple in Konark truly iconic among India’s greatest tourist attraction places,” the MPs wrote. The 12th century Puri shrine is one of the four “dhams” for the Hindus. In recent years, President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the temple.
The 13th Century Konark Temple, a Unesco world heritage site, is considered a marvel of medieval Odishan architecture, they highlighted.
On July 25, Dharmendra had requested the tourism minister to include Puri and Konark in the Centre’s list of iconic tourism sites “keeping in mind their paramount historical, cultural and religious importance.” Earlier on July 10, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had asked Patel to include at least two tourism sites from Odisha in the iconic tourism sites list. BJD Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra had on July 18 raised the issue of the state’s omission from the list of 17 iconic tourism sites.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had named 17 places to be developed as iconic tourism sites, none of which are from Odisha.