Puri: The musical water fountain and laser show project at Narendra pond in the Holy City here is yet to be made functional even though at least one-and-half years have elapsed since their trial run.
Many components of the Rs 7.70 crore project have sustained extensive damage due to poor maintenance, sources said.
Narendra pond has occupied a special place in the Jagannath culture. The annual Chandan Yatra ritual of Srimandir deities are performed in the pond.
In order to attract more tourists to the city and promote the Jagannath culture, the Tourism department had decided to install musical water fountain and laser show at Narendra pond by spending Rs 7.70 crore in 2013. The Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) was made the nodal agency to execute the project.
Idco had engaged a Kolkata-based firm to carry out the project work. As per the original schedule, the project was supposed to be inaugurated ahead of the Nabakalebar festival of Srimandir deities in 2015. The laser show was supposed to display legends on Lord Jagannath.
However, the project could not meet its deadline. The Tourism department had carried out a trial run of the musical fountain and laser show April 15, 2017. The Kolkata-based firm was told to rework on the laser show after detection of several technical and conceptual glitches in the project, sources said.
Tourism minister Ashok Panda had then claimed that the project would be made fully functional within two months. Till date, no steps have been taken to restart laser show at Narendra pond.
In the meantime, the project has been handed over to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA). Plastic chairs put up for the audiences have been damaged due to poor maintenance. Some components of the project including fans and sound boxes have been stolen by some miscreants, sources said.
Protesting the authorities’ failure to open the project for tourists, social activist Pramod Kumar Singh had staged a sit-in at least thrice at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar. But, neither the Tourism department nor the SJTA has managed to address the issue. “The Rs 7.70 crore project is lying idle due to official apathy. No elected representative or government official has shown any interest to make the project functional,” Singh alleged.
When contacted, SJTA public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda said they have recently received a new CD for the laser show. “The conceptual glitches have been corrected. The CD would be played in a meeting of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee. We can hold the laser show after receiving the due approval from the managing panel,” he added.