Puri: Thursday marked a special day for devotees of Lord Jagannath as all the four gates of the 12th century Jagannath temple, prominent among Char Dhams, were re-opened after four years.
The decision is considered significant from a political point of view as the BJP made the issue of opening of gates a poll promise during the recently held assembly election in the state.
The newly elected Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who visited the temple, said he fulfilled one of his poll promises on Thursday as all four gates of Jagannath Temple were thrown open for devotees. The decision was taken in its first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
A day after the Odisha Cabinet meeting approved a proposal to re-open all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri and set up a corpus fund for immediate requirement of the 12th-century shrine, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi visited the temple on Thursday.
"The state government decided to re-open all the four gates of the Puri Jagannath temple on Thursday morning in the presence of all ministers. Devotees will have access to the temple through all four gates," Majhi said.
Stating that opening all the temple gates was one of the promises of the BJP's election manifesto, the chief minister said that the devotees were facing problems due to closure of the gates.
The previous BJD administration continued to keep the four gates of the temple closed since the Covid-19 pandemic. The devotees can enter through only one gate and there were demands that all gates be opened after four years.
For the sake of conservation and preservation of the temple, Majhi said the Cabinet decided to constitute a corpus fund of ₹ 500 crore to look after the issues related to the shrine.
Replying to a question, the chief minister said that all ministers will leave for Puri on Wednesday night and stay in the pilgrim town so that they can be present when all four gates are opened on Thursday morning.
Majhi said that the state government will also take steps to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to ₹ 3100 per quintal and the department concerned has been asked to take measures in this regard.
A committee will be formed very soon for implementation of the proposal to increase the MSP for paddy to ₹ 3100 per quintal, he said. This apart, a special policy "Samruddha Krushak Niti Yojana" will be framed to deal with the problems of farmers, including the MSP to farmers.
"The departments have been asked to prepare a proper guideline and roadmap in this regard and present it before the government. "This will be done within a span of the first 100 days of the government," the chief minister said.
Majhi also claimed that efforts of the previous BJD regime for women empowerment and child welfare have failed. Therefore, the new government will implement the Subhdra Yojana within 100 days under which the women will get a ₹ 50,000 cash voucher each.
"The departments are told to prepare guidelines and roadmaps for the implementation of the Subhadra Yojana," the chief minister said.
CM visits Jagannath temple
CM Mohan Charan Majhi was accompanied by Deputy Chief Ministers KV Singh Deo and Prabhati Parida during his visit to the Jagannath temple. They offered prayers at the 12th-century temple of Lord Jagannath temple.
Puri MP Sambit Patra, Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi and other ministers and leaders of the party were also present at the temple. Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi said, "We had proposed to open all the four gates of Jagannath Temple in yesterday's cabinet meeting. The proposal was passed and today at 6:30 am, I along with my MLAs and Puri MP (Sambit Patra) attended the 'Mangala aarti'... For the development of the Jagannath Temple and for other works, we have proposed a fund in the cabinet. When we present the next state budget, we will allot a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore for the temple management."
State minister Suryabanshi Suraj said, "During the elections, we had promised that we would reopen all four gates. All four gates of the temple opened today. All members of the Council of Ministers are present here along with our CM. A corpus fund worth Rs. 500 crore has also been announced for development projects."
