The Orissa government has decided to create more accommodation facilities for pilgrims, who would be visiting Puri for the 2015 Naba Kalebar festival of Lord Jagannath as per a report in the Telegraph.
The festival, which marks change of the idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings, is scheduled to witness a congregation of 50 lakh devotees. During the last Naba Kalebar festival that took place in 1996, around 20 lakh devotees assembled in Puri, said an official of the Jagannath Temple.
At present, there are 20,000 hotel rooms in Puri. This accommodation capacity will not be adequate to cater to the lakhs of pilgrims expected to assemble in Puri during the festival.
The Puri district administration and the Jagannath temple administration were asked to create additional accommodation facilities for at least 50,000 pilgrims. Low-budget accommodation facilities for at least 2,000 lower middle class pilgrims will be created in the town. Funds from the Lodging House Fund will be utilised for the purpose.
The fund was floated in 1920 by virtue of the Bihar-Orissa Pilgrim Act. The Jagannath temple administration will also construct yatri niwas (lodging) to accommodate at least 10,000 pilgrims.
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