Rs 190 Cr Budget Approved for Puri Jagannath Temple

Bureau,Odishabarta

Puri: Shree Jagannath Temple managing committee on Tuesday approved Rs 190 crore annual budget for the 12th century shrine for 2021-22 fiscal. The chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Krishan Kumar said there is a plan to generate revenue of Rs 106 crore from earning and peg the budgetary expenditure at Rs 85 crore.

The temple managing committee, chaired by Dibyasingha Deb, the Gajapati Maharaja or titular king of Puri, approved the actual receipt and expenditure for 2020-21 and also cleared the budget estimate for 2021-22 fiscal, Kumar said. The temple authorities have planned to generate income of around Rs 37 crore from interests. “We expect the corpus fund amount to be around Rs 750 crore during 2021-22,” he said.

The SJTA chief said the administration has obtained cluster environmental clearance for stone quarries in Tapang and Khurda areas, which are owned by the Shree Jagannatha Temple. Individual environmental clearance for stone quarries is expected before March 2022, he said.

The SJTA will soon sign an MoU with State-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) for the production of Khondalite stones which are in high demand. An income of around Rs 60 crore is expected to be generated from the execution of land deeds and acquisitions. The temple authorities also decided to reassess the land leased to Cashew Development Corporation. The quality and quantity of materials used for rituals was also taken up for discussion, he said.

The temple is planning to launch some donation schemes during “Makar Sankranti” (January 14), the online portal which will be unveiled soon, the SJTA chief administrator said.

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