NEW DELHI: All four gates of the Jagannath Temple opened today for devotees as the BJP government in Odisha fulfilled its poll promises. Early in the morning, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy CM KV Singh Deo, and Prabhati Parida offered prayers at Lord Jagannath temple in Puri. The decision to open the gates was made in the BJP government’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
After the gates were reopened, CM Mohan Charan Majhi said, “We proposed to open all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in yesterday’s first cabinet meeting. The proposal was passed, & today at 6:30 am, I along with my MLAs & Puri MP Sambit Patra, attended the ‘Mangala aarti’. We have proposed a fund in the cabinet for the development of the Shree Jagannath Temple & other works. When we present the next state budget. We will allocate a corpus fund of Rs. 5cr for temple management. Additionally, the state cabinet approved a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore, which will be utilized for the safety, security & beautification of Jagannath Temple.”
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BJP’s Mohan Charan Majhi took the oath as Odisha’s CM on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Chief Minister Majhi & his MLAs were seen at Jagannath Temple performing ‘Mangala aarti’. Puri MP Sambit Patra & Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi were also present. The Jagannath temple witnessed a huge rush & long queues in front of the singhadwara (East-facing gate) as devotees flocked to use the newly opened gates of the temple.
This decision was welcomed by all the devotees who had long demanded the reopening of all the gates of the Shree Jagannath Temple to facilitate the smooth visit of the holy trinity.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the former CM of Odisha Naveen Patnaik led the BJP government to keep all four gates of the temple closed. The pilgrims were allowed to enter through one gate in the temple, and they raised complaints as they were facing problems due to the closed gates.