Yogi offers land for Jagganath temple
LUCKNOW: Accepting the demand of Oriya Samaj at the Odisha Day event here on Sunday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the state government would provide land to the Samaj for building a grand Lord Jagganath temple in Lucknow, which will be a replica of the original one in Odisha.
Governor Ram Naik, who presided over the event, suggested that the Samaj should build the temple through public donation money.
Speaking at the event, Yogi said the Oriya Samaj office-bearers should locate a suitable land for the temple and tell the government how much land they needed for the grand temple.
Yogi also said all Indians revered Lord Jagganath and the famous Jagganath Yatra united people.
He said the word ‘Utkal’ in the national anthem was meant for Odisha and thus indicated the glory of the state rich in cultural heritage.
Ram Naik welcomed the chief minister’s offer of the land for the temple and said: “I suggest that ‘Jan-Dhan’ (money collected from people) should be used to make the temple. Next year the Oriya Samaj here will be celebrating its silver jubilee. I still have a year of my tenure as UP governor left. Before that, the land will be available for the temple, and I hope the Oriya Samaj will invite me over when they hold an event on getting the land.”
The evening also saw cultural events.
Oriya Samaj’s souvenir ‘Nirmalaya’ and also the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan’s ‘Panchang’ were released.
Speaking at the event, principal secretary information and tourism Avnish Awasthi talked about how important Odisha was on India’s tourism map. The president of the Samaj and former UP cadre IAS officer G Patnaik talked about the programmes of the Samaj.
GOVERNOR RAM NAIK SUGGESTED THAT THE ORIYA SAMAJ SHOULD BUILD THE TEMPLE THROUGH PUBLIC DONATION MONEY.