Puri: Better late than never! Today, after a few decades of oblivion, we see a magnificent view of the temple of Lord Jagannath. Its serene beauty is a treat for the eyes. As the Darshan of Lord Jagannath gives us immense happiness and self satisfaction, the breathtaking surroundings come as a surprise. The mesmerizing transformation is also giving a thought that we can do it.
With the intent to create a world class iconic city, the Government of Odisha has taken an ambitious challenge to transform the Temple city of Puri. And for this, the age old negligence needed to be rectified. The huge surroundings of the temple, which were hitherto occupied for commercial and residential uses hindering the beauty of the temple, needed to be cleared. In a first, the government took the step of clearing the dilapidated buildings in the peripheral areas of the temple. It resulted in clearing a large patch of land that can be developed for the thousands of the devotees coming to the temple.
With this first initiative, we can see a real change in the ground. Vast open space, more place for movement of people, and a better view of the temple. Some of the images emerging out after the last few days of eviction show why the step was necessary.
People coming to the Temple to have the darshan of Lord Jagannath are of the opinion that they are seeing a real change on the ground. Some devotees from Gujarat, who came for the darshan of Lord Jagannath after a gap of six years, were spellbound with the changes. Pranay Saha, hailing from Ahmadabad, who came to Puri with his family members after a gap of many years, said “We are seeing new Puri today. There were no issues in darshan of Lord Jagannath. The queue system adopted led to easy entry into the temple. We had mats on the road. The area is so much cleaner today. Really, the government has taken a good step of transforming the temple.”
Locals also seem to be a lot of happy with this transformation. Residents living on the surroundings of the temple were earlier complaining of the traffic jams and illegal parking on the side roads of the temple. With the clearing of the area, they are now happy. The small commercial establishments on the peripheries of the temple are now happy that the footfalls have increased. The devotees who are entering the temple through the Singhadwara are taking the exit route through the Western Gate, hence, visiting all the surroundings of the temple.
According to Biswa Ranjan Rath, a resident of Gundicha Mandir Street, “Now the area looks very clean and we can see tourists are happy for the open space available. We also have spacious roads now. In the coming days we can see a vast development in all the four surroundings of the temple. It’s a win-win situation for all.
The Government should never bow to a few people and stop the transformation of the temple. We are with the administration.” The same views were also shared by Subash chandra Sitha of Talamali Sahi.