Puri temple to have fourth hotel by November

The Shree Purushottam Bhakta Niwas will soon be added to the chain of hotels belonging to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in Puri as the shrine body plans to open the new hotel for devotees from the holy month of Kartika in November.

The hotel, which is aimed at providing affordable accommodation to devotees visiting Puri for the darshan of Lord Jagannath, is nearing completion on Jail Road.

Shree Purushottam Bhatka Niwas will be the fourth hotel of the Jagannath Temple, which currently has three hotels – Nilachal Bhakta Niwas, Shree Gundicha Bhakta Niwas and Niladri Bhakta Niwas in Puri. SJTA’s chief administrator Krishan Kumar reviewed the progress of the construction of the new hotel on Wednesday. “Shree Purushottam Bhakta Niwas will provide all required amenities to devotees,” Kumar said.

The Shree Purushottam Bhakta Niwas is located adjacent to the multi-level car parking complex, which is being constructed at Jail Road, about two km from the Jagannath Temple. According to the SJTA, the new three-storied hotel will have 138 rooms, consisting of 120 rooms for double occupancy and 18 with triple occupancy facilities. All rooms will have air-conditioned facilities and will be made available at reasonable tariffs. The hotel will have power back-up, fire safety measures, lifts, parking lots and rest rooms for drivers.

With several mutts and dharmasalas being razed around the temple in the last two years for the ongoing Jagannath Heritage Corridor project, the new hotel of the temple administration is likely to help devotees get an affordable stay. The SJTA’s accommodation facilities are mostly sought by pilgrims, who are pure vegetarians as the units do not serve non-vegetarian foods. Because of its proximity with the Jagannath Temple, the accommodation centres are usually fully occupied during festive seasons, mostly Rath Yatra in June and July.

Temple administration sources said the Nilachal Bhakta Niwas with 64 rooms had earned nearly INR 2.08 crore in 2018-19 and INR 59 lakh in 2019-20. Niladri Bhakta Niwas with 106 rooms earned nearly INR 1.5 crore in 2018-19 and INR 1.2 crore in 2019-20. Shree Gundicha Bhakta Niswas with 72 rooms earned around INR 2.1 crore in 2018-19 and INR 52 lakh in 2019-20.