The Bhubaneswar Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has launched a project, ‘listing and Documenting the Monuments of Jagannath Sadak in Odisha,’ with an aim to revive the lost heritage of Jagannath Sadak-Odisha Trunk Road.
Briefing mediapersons here, INTACH State convener AB Tripathy said, “The project is being undertaken to highlight the sad plight of this once great and now forgotten road on which the pilgrims travelled to visit the deities at Puri.”
Tripathy said the project will be undertaken by State project head Anil Dhir and Sushant Mishra.
“The Jagannath Sadak was the old pilgrim road from Calcutta to Puri and was the lifeline for pilgrims who came to the lord’s abode at Puri. This was the road on which Chaitanya, Guru Nanak and Kabir travelled to Puri. There are several ancient monuments lying in a dilapidated condition,” said Tripathy.
In the first phase, the chapter plans to enlist and start of restoration work of all the old structures between Jaleswar and Puri before the Nabakalebar next year, added Tripathy. Tripathy said eighty kilometer of this route has been used to build the NH-5 while the railways have acquired 150 km of this ancient road and even after two centuries, there are about 80 archaic bridges on this route which are intact. Among others, project head Anil Dhir attended the Press meet.