Ahead of the Nabakalebar festival in Puri next year, the State Government on Monday reviewed security arrangements in and around the Shree Jagannath Temple here.
The issue was discussed at a meeting presided over by Additional Chief Secretary, Home, UN Behera, and attended by the Collector and SP of Puri district. It was decided that high-powered spy cameras would be installed at the strategic places to keep strict vigil in and around the temple,
In fact, IG of Police, Intelligence, Soumendra Priyadarshi, during his visit to the temple last month had recommended installation of 32 high-powered CCTV cameras.
At present, 16 CCTV units are installed inside the temple, of which 14 have been activated. It was decided to upgrade the functionalities of these CCTVs.
The Additional Chief Secretary also discussed about the financial requirement for infrastructure development of traffic network, parking places and mobile toilets before the Nabakalebar. Behera also had a meeting with Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Dr Arabinda Padhee and Puri Collector Arvind Agrawal and SP Ashish Kumar Singh.
Dr Padhee told reporters that the SJTA has written to the CMD of the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation to facilitate installation of the proposed 32 high-powered CCTV cameras. The SJTA would bear the expenses towards this while the temple administration and Puri Collector and SP would decide the locations of the CCTVs.
The meeting also discussed the arrangements for mobile toilets along the Grand Road (Bada Danda) and the beach area, parking facilities during the Nabakalebar and setting up of traffic posts at Konark and Chandrabhaga.