By Our Correspondent
PURI/BHUBANESWAR: With the much talked about Shree Mandir Parikrama Project in pilgrimage city of Puri is all set to be inaugurated on January 17 next year, as many as 30 teams, comprising officials of Shree Lord Jagannath Temple Administration, Servitors, Puri District Administration, on Tuesday left the premise of the 12th century old Hindu shrine , to distribute the invitation cards for the inauguration ceremony.
Of the 30 teams, 13 teams will distribute the invitation cards in various places within Odisha, while 17 teams will distribute them outside the state.
The invitation cards will be given to dignitaries, religious heads of various temples and shrines, mutts and important religious institutions.
In Bhubaneswar, one of the teams reached the Lingaraj Temple with invitation card where they were given rousing welcome. The team later visited Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence to invite him. SJTA Chief Administrator Ranjan Kumar Das, Puri Collector Samartha Verma and other senior officials were among those present on this occasion in Puri and also they accompanied teams to Bhubaneswar.
The Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government is hosting a grand event during the inauguration of the beautification of the corridor around the iconic Jagannath Temple in Puri from January 15 to 17, just a few days before the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
The Shree Mandira Parikrama Project (SMPP) adjoining the Meghanada Pacheri (stone boundary around Jagannath Temple) being built at a cost of ₹943 crore has a 7-metre green buffer zone and a 10-metre pedestrian-only inner circumambulation that will be used for parikrama (clockwise circumambulation) of temple.
