The Odisha government will inaugurate the Puri Shree Jagannath Temple Heritage Corridor project (Srimandir Parikrama project) in a grand manner to counter the wave likely to be generated on the proposed grand opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Nearly one thousand guests will be invited to witness the grand opening of the heritage corridor project which is coming up at Rs 943 crore. The inauguration is scheduled for January 17, five days before the Ram Temple in Ayodhya consecration ceremony. The distribution of cards for chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s dream project began on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, 30 teams left from Puri to invite guests. While 13 teams will distribute the cards in the state, 17 teams will invite guests from outside the state.

The religious heads of various mutts, temples, and dignitaries will be invited to witness the grand opening.

A team from the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, comprising servitors, performed the rituals at the 11th-century Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. Subsequently, a 50-member delegation went to Naveen Nivas and invited Naveen to join the inaugural ceremony of the temple’s heritage corridor project.

Senior servitor Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra said: “Chief minister gladly accepted the invitation and will be a part of the inauguration ceremony. We appeal to all the devotees across the globe to come and join the inaugural ceremony.”

The guest list includes the four Shankaracharyas, the Nepal royal family and the chiefs of 1,000 temples across the state, outside the state and abroad. A team led by temple chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das has already met Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nishalananda Saraswati at Ujjain and extended him the invitation.

Das said: “We also invited Lord Jagannath to be a part of the inaugural function.”

In addition to inviting chiefs from other major shrines from the state and outside the state, the temple administration has decided to extend the invitation to the Nepal Royal family as the Nepal King enjoys special rights similar to the Puri king to do “seva” inside the temple.

Representatives of Tirupati Balaji Temple in Andhra Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Kamakhya Temple in Assam, Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal, Maa Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Bengal and other shrines will also be invited to the grand opening ceremony of the Heritage temple corridor project.

Ahead of the heritage corridor project opening ceremony at Puri, different cultural programmes will be organised across the state.

Sources reveal the Odisha government plans to go for a nationwide campaign on the Puri Heritage Corridor project. It even plans to invite journalists from across the country to witness the grand opening ceremony.

The chief minister laid the foundation stone of the project on November 24, 2021, for the development of the areas within the 75-meter corridor of the boundary wall of the shrine to transform it into a pilgrim centre. However, the land acquisition process began in 2019.