Dharamshala housing 3700 pilgrims to be built near Puri Jagannath temple

Puri: A dharamshala to house 3700 pilgrims will be built over an area of ten acres identified in Markandeshwar Sahi of the Puri town located close to Jagannath temple.

The proposed site is beyond the ASI prohibited area. The project is to be built at an estimated cost of Rs.135 crores. Pilgrims will be charged a minimum rate for accommodation, official sources here on Saturday said.

A mega parking lot is coming up in Samang village located at the outskirts of the town in an area of forty three acres at a cost of Rs.67 crore.The parking lot will have the provision for parking 420 buses, 258 auto rickshaws, 549 four wheelers and 1054 two wheelers.

The Trumpet bridge (Sri Setu) will be connected with the Jagannath Ballav parking place before the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath scheduled for June 20 next.The project is being executed at a cost of Rs.161 crore.

5T secretary VK Pandyan on the instruction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently visited the ongoing construction work in the Srimandir Parikrama site and asked the TATA company to expedite work and complete it before the grand annual car festival.

He discussed with executive engineer S M Padhi of Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation (OBCC) for timely completion of all the under construction projects. OBCC is the nodal executing agency for all the projects.

The 5T secretary was accompanied by district collector Samarth Verma and sub collector Bhabataran Sahu. (UNI)