Fulfilling one of its poll promises, Odisha's newly sworn-in BJP government reopened all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri today. The decision was taken in its first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
After the reopening of the gates, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said, "We had proposed to open all four gates of Jagannath Temple in yesterday's cabinet meeting. The proposal was passed, and today at 6:30 am, I, along with my MLAs and Puri MP (Sambit Patra), attended the 'Mangala aarti'... For the development of the Jagannath Temple and for other works, we have proposed a fund in the cabinet. When we present the next state budget, we will allot a corpus fund for temple management," news agency ANI reported.
The BJP's Mohan Charan Majhi took the oath as Odisha's Chief Minister on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, CM Majhi and his MLAs were seen at Shree Jaganath temple performing Mangala aarti. Puri MP Sambit Patra, Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi were also present. The temple witnessed a huge rush and long queues in front of the Singhadwara as devotees flocked to use the newly opened gates.
This decision was welcomed by devotees who had long demanded the re-opening of all gates of the temple to facilitate the smooth darshan of the Holy Trinity.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the former CM Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government has kept all four gates of the temple closed. The pilgrims were allowed to enter through one gate, and they raised complaints as they were facing problems due to the closed gates.
The cabinet has also decided to form a corpus fund worth crores for the conservation and preservation of the temple.
