BHUBANESWAR: President Ram Nath Kovind, his wife, Savita, and their daughter Swati offered prayers at the Jagannath Temple in Puri on Monday, marking the third day of their visit to the state.
Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, the king of Puri and chairman of the temple managing committee, welcomed Kovind and his family at the Lion’s Gate of the 12th century shrine. Governor Ganeshi Lal, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries accompanied the President to the temple.
Kovind, who spent around 45 minutes there from 9am, donated Rs one lakh from his salary to the temple administration for the overall development of the shrine. In keeping with the President’s security protocol, the temple remained out of bounds for devotees from 7.30am to 10am. Only a handful of servitors and officials were permitted to accompany him to the temple.
“Kovind and his family offered prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum. The President was quite happy with the smooth darshan of the deities,” Krishan Kumar, the chief administrator of the temple, said.
The shrine officials said Kovind was all praise for the ongoing beautification work around the temple under the Jagannath Heritage Corridor project. He was pleasantly surprised to see the massive makeover around the temple this time. He and his wife had last visited Puri on March 18, 2018.
While returning, Kovind asked his officials to stop his cavalcade near the royal palace and alighted from his vehicle to wave at the people, who had gathered on both sides of the Grand Road.
Pradhan expressed his gratitude to the President for contributing Rs one lakh from his salary to the temple. Recently, Pradhan had urged Puri king Dibyasingha Deb to lead a fund-raising campaign akin to the Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
After the Jagannath darshan, the President and his family members visited the Sun Temple in Konark. Kovind returned to Delhi in the evening.