BHUBANESWAR: The Puri Jagannath temple managing committee on Monday finalised the architectural design of Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor (SJHC) project. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had released the draft design of the SJHC project on December 30, 2019.
\The design has been approved by the committee in the wake of the recent withdrawal of the controversial draft heritage bye-laws for Puri temple by the Centre. The project, which will be implemented at a cost of nearly Ra 800 crore, lays stress on development of heritage corridor components, a Shree Jagannath reception centre (SJRC), amenities for devotees and development of mutt temples.
“The project is part of the Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) scheme for developing Puri as a “World Class Heritage City”. The SJHC will be a 75-meter corridor. The intent of the project is to provide expansive, unobstructed corridors around the Meghanada Pacheri (outer boundary wall) for giving an opportunity to devotees to have visual connect with the Temple, Neelchakra and Meghanada Pacheri,” temple’s chief administrator Krishan Kumar said. The SJHC also envisages development of amenities for pilgrims and strengthening of the safety and security of the temple.
The heritage corridor would be divided into 9 layers — a green buffer surrounding the temple complex, Antar Pradakshina path, landscape zone, Bahya Pradakshina path, public convenience zone, service lane, shuttle cum emergency lane, mixed traffic lane and pedestrian footpath.
The eastern plaza of the heritage corridor is proposed as a large open space as many festivals of Shree Mandira, including Rath Yatra start from here. A queue management facility with capacity of 6,000 persons, along with security checking (baggage screening) facility, main cloakroom for keeping belongings of up to 4,000 families, drinking water and toilet facilities, provision for washing hands and feet, souvenir including book shops will be provided in the Jagannath reception centre. This centre will be built over half an acre land on the south-east side of the corridor.
Amenities like mini cloakroom, information-cum-donation kiosks, shelter pavilion, public toilets, sevayat toilets, police service centre, ATM kiosk, Bhajan Mandap and Sanskrit Mandap will come up for devotees under the heritage corridor project. The project also includes preservation of the temples of around 10 mutts, which were demolished within the 75-metre radius of the shrine.
