Ahead of Bhumi Pujan, 3-day yajna starts for Srimandir Parikrama plan

PURI:  The three-day long yajna before ‘Bhumi Pujan’ of the Parikrama Yojana or corridor plan of the Sri Jagannath Temple began outside the Srimandir on Sunday. As per tradition, chief servitor of the temple Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingh Deb symbolically entrusted five shrotriya brahmins the responsibility by handing over a betel nut to start the yajna before the project’s groundbreaking ceremony. 

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the much-hyped heritage corridor project and perform the Purna Ahuti of the yajna on November 24. Sankaracharya of Gobardhan peeth Swamy Nischalananda Saraswati will be present on the occasion. 

As part of the project, there will be a seven-lane wide pathway around the Meghnad Prachir of the Sri Jagannath Temple to help devotees circumambulate the shrine. The corridor will also entail separate lanes for deities and devotees including a green corridor close to the temple wall.

Official sources on the day informed that four security watch towers will be erected on four sides of the Parikrama. This apart, clock  room and underground parking lot will be constructed. Srimandir Parikrama Yojana (Jagannath temple corridor plan) will be implemented by the State government at an estimated cost of `3,200 crore within the next couple of years.