Puri: The holy month of Kartik begins October 14 and this year the State Government is going to provide shelter and Mahaprasad to 3, 000 Hindu widows who are here for observing ‘Kartik brat’ under the ‘Kartika Habishiali Brata Yojana’ (KHBY) programme.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate this year’s KHBY through video conferencing October 13, afternoon. The programme was first launched in 2016.
All the arrangements have been made for the widows who would stay here October 13 to November 12.
Like in the past, this year too three temporary shelters – Railway Tourist Complex, Municipality Kalyan Mandap and Habishiali Centre – have been prepared for the habishialis. While Railway Tourist Complex can accommodate 900 habishialis, Municipality Kalyan Mandap and Habishiali Centre will house 600 and 1, 500 occupants respectively.
Registration for these Hindu widows is on and by Thursday 1,726 names have been registered. Since Friday is the last date for registration, it is expected that the total number would reach by the deadline.
Already on a priority basis, 900 and 550 widows observing the brat have been provided with identity cards to facilitate their stay at the Railway Tourist Complex and Municipality Kalyan Mandap respectively.
Three supervisors, four coordinating officials and 12 nodal officers and 40 others have been appointed to look after the well being of the widows. They would have facilities like warm water, raised platforms for offering puja and many more. Buses have been allotted to take them to the Jagganath Temple and the Narendra Tank.
A review meeting chaired by Collector Balwant Singh was held at the town hall here recently. Responsibilities were entrusted to the various officials during the meeting. Others present were Puri SP Umashankar Dash, ADM Pradeep Kumar Sahu, Executive Officer, Municipality, Bijay Kumar Dash and Sub- Collector Bhabataran Sahu.
PNN