Plans afoot to make Puri Jagannath temple's 'Mahaprasad' free for devotees

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is planning to distribute the ‘Mahaprasad’ at Puri’s Jagannath temple to devotees free of cost, a state minister said on Sunday.

The planned move could materialise soon, Odisha Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan told reporters here.

Harichandan said the free distribution of the ‘Mahaprasad’ will entail an additional expenditure of Rs 14-15 crore per year for the government.

“We are trying to involve a few devotees who are financially sound to come forward and join hands in this initiative. Some of them have already agreed to support the move,” he said.

The implementation process is likely to start after the holy Odia ‘Kartik’ month (two months), the minister said.

Similarly, special arrangements have been made for ‘Habisyalis’, the women who perform specific rituals during the ‘Kartik’ month, he said.

“We have started preparing a design to streamline the public darshan (of the Jagannath temple). A dedicated system will be put in place so that devotees do not face any issue while visiting the 12th century shrine,” Harichandan added.