Odisha’s newly sworn-in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in its first Cabinet meeting approved a proposal to re-open all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri on early Thursday morning and set up a corpus fund for immediate requirement of the 12th-century shrine.
The gates were opened after 8 am on Thursday. The three gates of the 12th century shrine were reopened after the 'Mangal Alati' ritual of Lord Jagannath.
Mohan Charan Majhi of BJP took oath as Odisha chief minister on Wednesday while several others were sworn in as ministers.
Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi was seen at the Jagannath temple on Thursday morning for the opening of all four gates for devotees. Puri MP Sambit Patra, Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi and other ministers and leaders of the party were also present.
“The state government decided to re-open all the four gates of the Puri Jagannath temple in the early morning tomorrow in the presence of all ministers. Devotees will have access to the temple through all four gates,” Majhi said on Wednesday after a meeting with his ministers at the state secretariat Lok Seva Bhawan.
The previous CM Naveen Patnaik-led BJD administration kept the four gates of the temple closed since the Covid-19 pandemic. The devotees were allowed to enter through only one gate and there were demands that all gates be opened.
Stating that opening all the temple gates was one of the promises of the BJP’s election manifesto, the chief minister said that the devotees were facing problems due to closure of the gates.
For the sake of conservation and preservation of the temple, Majhi said the Cabinet decided to form a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore to look after the issues related to the shrine, according to a PTI report.
All ministers of the new Odisha government were present when all four gates were opened on Thursday morning.
The chief minister, his two deputies, ministers, several BJP MPs and party leaders also made a 'parikrama' around the temple complex.
