Bhubaneshwar: The Jagannath Puri temple management committee met on Friday, during which they approved a budget of Rs.413 crore for the financial year 2024-25. As the Odisha government has made provision for ₹500 crore corpus, it would be around ₹913 crore if we take into account the corpus fund, said a committee member.
The temple will have its own FM radio channel, the committee said, adding they are also planning to streamline Darshan with provisions for dedicated rows for women, children, and elderly devotees.
“After the four gates of the temple were opened on June 13, the shrine has been witnessing a huge footfall of devotees, causing serious problems for everyone. We are planning to streamline it,” said temple managing committee member Madhab Mahapatra.
He added that the committee has entrusted the district collector, the superintendent of police, and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration chief to hold talks with temple servitors (priests).
The temple administration recently floated an expression of interest to implement an AI-based dynamic footfall counting system in the shrine that will be used to regulate the flow of devotees.
The managing committee also approved the proposal for gold plating of the two doors of Ratna Bhandar containing all the valuables of the deities.
{{/usCountry}}The managing committee also approved the proposal for gold plating of the two doors of Ratna Bhandar containing all the valuables of the deities.
{{/usCountry}}Last month, after four decades, all the valuables from both chambers of the Ratna Bhandar were taken out for its inventorisation.
Once the necessary repair works of the Ratna Bhandar are completed by the Archaeological Survey of India, the gold-plating work for the doors of the Ratna Bhandar will begin, said officials.
The committee also discussed the issue of the welfare of the temple servitors, including health insurance, financial assistance, scholarships for the children of sevayat families, and sports financial assistance.
In move to digitise the temple premises, the officials said that soon the Odisha Space Applications Centre (ORSAC) help will be sought, and a GPS survey will be conducted for all the landed properties of Lord Jagannath. Similarly, the records of the temple administration would be digitised as well, the committee said.