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 temple under 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.

 

Speaking to PTI, Samarth Verma, Puri Collector and District Magistrate said, “The average footfall to the 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 Atate-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 clearing around 3 acres for the ‘Shree Setu’ connecting the newly built Jagannath Ballav Parking Complex and the temple, they added.