President Pranab Mukherjee arrives at a fortified Baidyanath Dham (right) in Deoghar on Tuesday. Pictures by Prashant Mitra

Deoghar, April 30: Pranab Mukherjee offered puja at Baba Baidyanath Dham this afternoon on the concluding day of his two-day Jharkhand trip, becoming India’s second President — after Rajendra Prasad in 1952 — to do so at the temple listed among 12 jyotirlingams and 51 shaktipeeths.

Spiritual satisfaction apart, Mukherjee also made life easier for millions of pilgrims in practical ways by inaugurating the temple’s systematic queue complex and solar projects, including a 44km-streetlight link powered by green energy between pilgrim towns Deoghar and Basukinath.

Clad in pristine white dhoti and kurta, the President, who reached the temple town straight from Godda where he launched a power mega project, stayed at the sanctum sanctorum for 20 minutes from 2.20pm.

Amid chants of Vedic shlokas and har har Mahadev, priest Vinod Panda guided the President on making naivedyam — ritual offerings — arranged by the Baidyanath Dham temple management committee.

“It was a great experience for me to guide the President. He had earlier made offerings in 1992, when he was the Planning Commission’s deputy chairman,” the priest told The Telegraph.

Five other priests —Krishna Nandan Mishra, Mithilesh Jha, Lambodar Parihast, Kapildeo Mishra and Sarnath Pandit — also helped Mukherjee offer rituals under the Vedic sodsopchar process.

Apart from fruits, Mukherjee offered honey, milk, curd, ghee and other ritual items kept in special silver utensils. “Peda, Baidyanath Dham’s traditional naivedyam, was of course present,” Parihast recalled.

Former Union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Subodh Kant Sahay, Godda BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and former minister and Baidyanath Dham temple trustee Krishnanand Jha accompanied the President.

Local priests’ outfit Panda Dharma Rakshini Sabha also blessed the President with a long, healthy life and bright prospects, general secretary of the outfit Vinod Datt Dwari said.

After a short lunch break at Circuit House, the President laid the foundation for the Rs 40-crore Mega Q-Complex near the temple, a joint Centre-state venture with a two-year deadline.

The Q-complex will help save Deoghar devotees — around 1.5 lakh come to the temple everyday during the holy Shravan month, forming serpentine rows up to 15km long — from the elements. So far, devotees, including women, have been forced to stand under the open sky, braving heat or rain for hours.

Punctually, the President arrived at the venue KK Stadium in the heart of the temple town right on scheduled at 3.30pm. “The Q-Complex will help Baba Baidyanath Dham pilgrims in many ways. I congratulate all the MPs who have chipped in with their local area development funds,” he said.

Also present were governor Syed Ahmed, MPs Dubey and Sahay, as well as J.P.N. Singh and K.D. Singh, both Rajya Sabha, governor’s advisers Madhukar Gupta and K. Vijay Kumar, chief secretary R.S. Sharma and Deoghar deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Purwar.

The President also inaugurated a 14MW (7x2 MW) capacity solar power project. The project, set up at villages Sirsa and Barha in Deoghar, is being executed by Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.

But the President has left his mark on posterity with foundation of a solar streetlight project worth Rs 7.5 crore between Deoghar and Basukinath (Dumka), another must-visit hub for Shiv devotees.

Millions of devotees who come to Deoghar for Baba Baidyanath Dham temple also trek on foot to Basukinath to offer puja.

In the next one year, the entire route will be lit up by 2,500 LED-based streetlights, each 50-watt strong, a distance of 18m between two consecutive 6m poles.

At five locations, solar power plants of 100KWP capacity will be commissioned.

Funds include Rs 4 crore central assistance, as well as Rs 2 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 50 lakh from development funds of Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, Rajya Sabha MPs K.D. Singh and Parimal Nathwani, respectively.

“Once this project starts, it will be the longest solar streetlight project in the world,” claimed Dubey, a BJP MP and one of the project’s prime backers.

Two solar street light projects are already functioning — one on the 8km stretch between Jasidih and Deoghar and another 3km one from Jarmundi to Basukinath.

The 44km mega project will make the green route 55km long.

“Once the streetlights are on, we won’t have to halt the night anywhere,” said Deoghar resident Mangesh Jha, a frequent pilgrim from Sultanganj (Bihar) to Deoghar-Basukinath.