Bhubaneswar: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly Pradipta Kumar Naik Tuesday demanded a ban on sale of non-vegetarian food and liquor in the vicinity of Puri Srimandir.
The leader wrote a letter in this regard to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking his intervention in the matter. In a letter to Patnaik, Naik said,
“Puri is one of the Dhams out of the four Dhams in India which is recognized as a sacred place for all the Hindus in the world. I am very thankful to you that recently the construction and beautification of Puri has been developed and well maintained which is attracting a large number of pilgrims.”
He, however, said that to his utter surprise there were so many hotels on both the sides of Badadanda (grand road) in Puri where non-vegetarian items are being sold. “Even there are a good number of hotels where liquor is being sold which creates discontentment among the devotees coming to Puri for darshan of Lord Jagannath.”
Naik appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure such products are not sold close to the Srimandir and hoped that the request is considered at the earliest.
“I would therefore request you to kindly take necessary steps to ban sale of non-vegetarian food and liquor in the hotels of both sides of Badadanda i.e from Shree Jagannath temple to Mausima temple at the earliest.”