Bhubaneswar: In a bid to make Lord Jagannath’s ‘Mahaprasad’ chemical-free, the Odisha government has mooted a proposal for launching a special project to provide organic rice and vegetables to the deity in the 12th-century shrine in Puri, an official said Wednesday.
The proposal to launch the special project, ‘Amrut Anna’, has been welcomed by the servitors of the Jagannath Temple.
A consultation meeting in this regard was held at the Krushi Bhavan, the headquarters of the agriculture department, here Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Secretary Arabinda Padhee, who is also in charge of the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
The temple comes under the law department of the Odisha government.
“Efforts are being made by the state government to make the Mahaprasad chemical-free. The decision to use organic rice and vegetables in the Mahaprasad of Shree Mandira has been welcomed by the Suar-Mahasuar Nijog (a category of servitors in the temple) and the temple administration,” a senior official said.
The Suar-Mahasuar Nijog prepares the Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath.
Sources in the temple administration said that presently, rice, vegetables, pulses and other items are procured mainly from the local market. Ghee is supplied to the temple by the state-owned OMFED (Odisha Milk Federation) and use of ghee procured from open market is prohibited.
Initially, organic rice varieties like ‘Kalajeera’, ‘Pimpudibasa’, ‘Jubaraja’ and others produced in Odisha will be used in this ‘Amruta Anna’ Mahaprasad. Out of these, Kalajeera rice has already achieved the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
While producing rice organically, the use of cow urine, cow dung and other organic fertilisers can also help in the protection and increase of the cow population in the state, he said.
PTI