Development of Lord Balunkeswar Temple in Rayagada : Pandian’s initial push for its restoration & renovation.
Dr.Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, January 16: Jagannath Parikrama Chariots are traversing in the nook & corner of the villages in 182 gram panchayats of Rayagada districts and 41 wards of Rayagada & Gunupur Municipalities and 11 wards of Gudari Notified Area Council(NAC) and are the verge of their journey. The atmosphere has created a religious & spiritual fervor among the lakhs of devotees, who are ready to celebrate the inauguration of the “Parikrama Project” to be held at Puri on Wednesday.
The devotees will gather in all the prominent temples of the district to pay tribute to Almighty Jagannath. Sri Sri Lord Balunkeswar Temple will be one such temple where devotees in thousand will assemble and chant religious hymns with traditional musical instruments to appease Jagannath and wish for the wellbeing of the entire universe.
Rayagada as a fort (town) was built by Biswanath Deo (1521-1571). This was mainly built to ward off Muslim attacks from the South. It is symbol of heroism and sacrifice of Ray Jani (Kandha chieftain).
Balunkeswar, the Lord Siva deity is Swayambhu. The Temple, situated in a serene atmosphere near PHED, is an age old temple of Rayagada constructed by the then King. People of Rayagada and adjacent districts have emotional attachment towards this temple, which is rightly recognised by Govt of Odisha.
V K Pandian, Chairman, Transformational Initiatives (5T) & Nabin Odisha, visited Rayagada on 7th June and assured Rayagadians of several development processes in the district. And lo & behold, on 26th Rs.20 lakhs was sanctioned from CMSA fund for restoration & renovation of Lord Balunkeswar Temple ! People were astonished for such a quick decision exploding the myth of bureaucratic sluggishness. Then the Temple Committee had a meeting where it was discussed that Rs.2 crores was needed for repair & renovation of only the Garbha Gruha of the temple.
At different times, the Committee approached Minister Jagannath Saraka, Ex-MP N Bhaskar Rao & MLA Makaranda Muduli & Collector and requested them to increase the amount considerably. All of them assured to help. Minister Saraka and MLA Muduli agreed to extend Rs.10 lakhs each from their fund meant for Local Area Development(LAD). Rao also agreed to arrange Rs.10 lakhs while Collector told the Committee members to facilitate Rs.20 lakhs. Collector kindly wrote to the Special Secretary to the CM for sanctioning Rs.1 crore. She also directed the PWD for a detailed estimation.
With the concerted effort of people’s representatives, bureaucrats and the general public, Foundation Stone was laid officially & “Subha” was given by Raj Purohit also on October 8. Collector visited the temple & discussed the progress with Committee members in the temple itself. In the meantime, PWD gave a comprehensive design with an estimate of Rs.10.7822 crores to ITDA, Rayagada, which sent the letter to Chief Development-cum-Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, Rayagada. Temple Committee approached the Collector again to forward the estimate to state headquarters.
Ranjan Rath, a prominent Temple Trust Member said “Recently, the roof of the temple was laid.
The side structural works are in a full swing. Special sculptors and designers of the main temple, who will come from Nayagarh district, have been contacted.
They will come with their expert team & charge around Rs.50 lakhs.” Temple Trust Chairman Sunil Panda has all the praise for Pandian. He stated that had Pandian not taken the initiative of sanctioning Rs.20 lakhs, the Temple would not have witnessed such progress. It was possible for the initial push by Pandian, the Lord’s wish & blessings and devotees’’ cohesive efforts as stated by Temple’s priest Pradip Rana.
“Though total sanctioned money of Rs.20 lakhs got fully spent during the fag end of November, the work still continues with loans from well-wishers and devotees and till date, the loan stands around to Rs.40 lakhs approximately. There is heavy paucity of finance and we are afraid if the Govt does not sanction the estimated amount soon, work will be left in half way”, said Bapi Tripathy, an active Temple Trust member, who is looking into the entire temple construction activities.
