Puri: As announced earlier by the Government of Odisha, people from various districts will visit Puri and have darshan of Lord Jagannath and experience the divine Parikrama Prakalpa from today. About ten thousand devotees from five districts will arrive today in Puri on the first day of the initiative. More than five hundred buses will arrive in Puri with devotees from various blocks of the state. Today, people from Ganjam, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack and Kendrapada will be taken for Darshan of the Lord and Parikrama Prakalpa. The Srimandira Parikrama Prakalpa was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on May 17. The State Government and Puri District Administration along with the Sri Jagannath Temple Authority have made all arrangements for the devotees to visit the Lord in a phased manner.
According to sources, the special buses carrying the devotees will be brought to the Samanga Parking and from there the devotees will be taken to Jagannath Ballava Pilgrim Center through the Sri Setu by feeder busses. From there, the devotees will be taken for Darshan of Lord Jagannath thrpugh the Sri Marga. The administration has engaged many officials to oversee the facilities for the devotees. All the facilities are being provided free of cost by the Government of Odisha. It is worth mentioning here that, more than 1.7 lakh devotees from 8852 Blocks of Odisha will be brought to Puri till 22nd February.