ISKCON to set up World Heritage Centre at Mayapur

Kolkata: Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW, along with B K Goenka, chairman of Welspun and Ashok Goel, chairman of Essel group, met Alfred Ford of Ford Motors at Mayapur, the headquarter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on Sunday and discussed a plan to set up the proposed Sri Chaitanya Cultural World Heritage Centre (SCCWHC), said the media spokesperson of ISKCON.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given a go-ahead for the plan and assured the ISKCON authorities of all necessary cooperation.

Spread over 700 acres, ISKCON has decided to set up a Rs 3,000 crore World Heritage Centre at Mayapur. The construction of a Rs 500 crore grand temple, Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), is the first step towards it. The temple is expected to be inaugurated in 2022.

Jindal, along with other industrialists, arrived at Mayapur on his private chopper at 11.00 am. After having darshan and offering arti at the Chandradaya Temple, they travelled the entire landscape where ISKCON has planned to set up the Heritage Centre.

Later they met Alfred Ford, disciple of founder Acharya of ISKCON His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, who has arrived from America to participate in the upcoming Gaur Purnima festivities at Mayapur.

Ford, better known as Ambrish Das in the devotee fraternity, exchanged pleasantries with the visiting group of industrialists. Later, they discussed at length the construction of the proposed World Heritage Centre inside the TOVP.

"On our request, Jindal has agreed to head the committee which will oversee the work of the World Heritage Centre project, as its chairman," said a senior ISKCON leader.

Since the idea of the World Heritage Centre was conceived by ISKCON, the role of the Bengal government and personal interest shown by Mamata Banerjee has encouraged ISKCON to undertake the mega project.

The centre will give a major boost to tourism in India and specifically Bengal, on the International platform, claimed the ISKCON spokesperson.