Jagannath temple at Anandapur area to be unveiled today

Kolkata: After the unveiling of Jagannath Dham at Digha in East Midnapore on ‘Akshay Tritiya’ (April 30), the city will witness the inauguration of a new Jagannath temple at Anandapur area off EM Bypass on the occasion of ‘Buddha Purnima’ (May 12) on Monday. The construction of the shrine has been patronised by the councillor of Ward 108 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Sushanta Ghosh who is also the chairman of Borough XI.

“Those who know me personally are aware of my pious nature. I had long cherished a dream of constructing a temple of Lord Jagannath. However, availability of space was a challenge. When I managed space for construction some 18 odd months back, arrangement of finances posed a new challenge. I sought assistance from many people and all of them came forward with whatever they could. I have been able to bring Lord Jagannath here because of the support that I have got. The Lord wished to come here and today this is a reality,” said Ghosh.

Ghosh added that his desire of constructing the temple became more intense after the work for building the Jagannath Dham in Digha started.

A striking feature of this shrine is the fact that Lord Jagannath will be only worshipped here. Idols of Lord Balaram or Subhadra will not be here. The temple is unique in the sense that it is not a replica of any temple of Lord Jagannath. The rituals started from Saturday and 12 priests from the Puri temple are scheduled to come for the inauguration on Monday. A yajna was performed on Sunday which was followed by consecration.

Neem wood procured from other states has been used in constructing the idol of Lord Jagannath.

Political personalities as well as people from the cultural fraternity will be present during the inaugural programme.