Kendrapara: In a bid to boost tourism in this coastal district, the administration is all set to renovate the Baladevjew temple, the abode of the elder brother of Lord Jagannath.
Development works will be taken up at the 400-year-old temple at an estimated cost of Rs 8.5 crore.
The district administration has started preparing the preliminary project report (PPR). It has taken the help of SJ Associates, an architecture agency, for preparing the PPR and designing the ambitious project, said District Collector, Samarth Verma.
Though the proposal is yet to be approved, the state government has asked the district administration to send the PPR, said Sub-collector Jyotishankar Mohapatra.
A meeting was recently organised at the Temple Endowment Trust Board office in which the Collector, MLA of Kendrapara, Sashibhusan Behera, Sub-collector-cum-president of Baladevjew Temple Endowment Trust Board, Pradipta Mohanty, the executive engineer of R&B department, the members and the executive officer of the Trust Board were present.
To enhance the beauty of the temple at Tulashikhetra, the district administration has planned to set up proper lighting system at the Baladevjew temple and also at Ratha Danda. As part of the beautification drive, a children’s park, located near the temple and lying unused, is going to be turned into a spiritual park and a mega yoga centre is going to be opened at the proposed spiritual park. Plans are afoot for modification of marriage mandap, while a heritage look is going to be given to the temple’s boundary wall. The administration is going to renovate the kitchen room of Gundicha temple and also going to make the concrete roof of the Gundicha temple’s Jagamohan Mandap. Plans are afoot to renovate the new Chandan Pokhari of the temple, informed Mohaptra.
Besides, repair work of the endowment board office and furnishing of Yatri Niwas are on cards, he added.
Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaikin in June had announced Rs 2 crore for the temple’s development, including the renovation of Jhulana Mandap, construction of Kalyana Mandap, construction of wall on north side of temple, construction of lavatory, deep tube-well and to provide water supply round the clock.
PNN