Bypass route, AC tunnel part of Puri's makeover ahead of Jagannath temple corridor inauguration

Bhubaneswar, Jan 8 (PTI) The newly built 'Shree Setu', a 2.8-kilometre bypass stretch, in Puri would now allow vehicles coming from Bhubaneswar and Brahmagiri to directly reach a multi-level parking spot by avoiding city traffic, reducing travel time to the Jagannath temple by up to an hour.

The Shree Setu is among the several infrastructure development projects implemented by the Odisha government in Puri ahead of the inauguration of the Jagannath Heritage Corridor project worth Rs 2,700 crore on January 17.

Officials said the government has redeveloped the settlement around the ancient Puri temple to ease the increasing footfall of worshippers to the holy city and built a 1.5 kilometre-path 'Shrimandir Parikrama' encircling the temple under the Jagannath In a huge relief to the lakhs of devotees who throng the pilgrimage site for darshan throughout the year, the 'Shree Setu', Odisha's first trumpet bridge, would allow them to reach the temple within 10-15 minutes once they enter the stretch, the officials said.

This new bridge which connects four lanes of roads is built on a stretch of 37 acres of land, an official said.

Speaking to PTI, Samarth Verma, Puri Collector and District Magistrate said, "The average footfall of devotees to the Jagannath temple post pandemic has increased. On usual days it is one to two lakh and it goes up to 10 lakh during festivals." "To manage this crowd, we have built the Shree Setu traffic network around the city that will enable the devotees to directly enter a multilevel car parking via a bypass highway and visit the temple without entering the city," Verma added.

These steps were taken based on the recommendations of the state-appointed Commission of Inquiry. The committee submitted its report on better administration and governance of the Shree Jagannath temple and its endowments including security and safety measures in 2019, the officials said.

Following the approval by the state cabinet, the city administration initiated the first phase of its redevelopment and rehabilitation scheme clearing around 3 acres for the 'Shree Setu' connecting the newly built Jagannath Ballav Parking Complex and the temple, they added.

To further ease the movement of devotees, the administration has installed a makeshift AC tunnel with benches attached to iron barricades that segregate around 10 rows which can accommodate 3,000 devotees at a time, an official told PTI.

The 85-metre shaded pathway is placed for the convenience of devotees to save them from the scorching heat while they wait in queue for darshan, he said.

"The redevelopment around the temple complex was required to prevent stampede-like situations during festivals and ease crowd circulation during Parikrama," the official added. The redeveloped Jagannath temple complex has been equipped with an underground utility pavilion, shelter pavilions, washrooms, and electrical rooms.

The city administration has also built a 4.5-metre wide dedicated shuttle lane, a 7.5-metre wide mixed traffic lane, and a 3-7 metre wide footpath for easy traffic flow and decongestion, the officials said.

A two-wheeler parking and extended pathway has also been constructed by the administration, they added.

The grand road (bada danda) that leads to the temple and remains packed with devotees, especially during the Rath Yatra has been widened up to 75 metres to make space for the huge procession with street lights and street furniture lined alongside the roads.

Furthermore, to drain out the flood water from the city, stormwater drainages have been made around the temple complex besides other developments such as green buffer zone and public conveyance zone.

The much-awaited Puri airport -- which will be the second international airport in Odisha -- is in its last leg of completion and will become operational soon, officials said, adding that the facility is expected to attract more devotees as they would no longer need to travel 1.5 hours from the Bhubaneswar airport to reach the Jagannath temple.

Over 600 shops, residential complexes, and private properties were displaced during the land acquisition for building the heritage corridor and they were rehabilitated within two kilometres of the temple complex, the officials added.

"All the affected people were duly compensated as per the rules and many of them have been provided shops in the newly built complexes by the administration," Binaya Kumar Dash, Assistant District Magistrate, Puri said.

Over 17 acres of land, including five villages, has been acquired by the district administration for the Jagannath Heritage Corridor project. PTI