With a view to accommodate a large inflow of tourists to Puri during the ensuing Nabakalebar in 2015, the State Government has decided to set up a special village with temporary accommodation facilities. It will be christened as Nabakalebar Village.
Service providing agencies and experts having long standing experience of managing such works in grand celebrations like the Kumbha Mela at Allahabad, Haradwar, Nasik and Ujjain have presented the possible architectural designs of the village. A high level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra and attended by Tourism and Culture Secretary Dr Arabinda Padhi, among others approved of the proposal. The project would be monitored by the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC).
A test run of the design will be done during Rath Yatra this year by building dormitory type of accommodation for 5,000 pilgrims at affordable cost and 100 high-end individual units. Free temporary accommodation for 5,000 pilgrims through such designs would also be built, while temporary accommodation for police personnel on duty would be raised. The district administration of Puri has identified around 20 acres of land for the priced accommodation project near Talabania and the land for raising free accommodation structure near the Puri bus stand.
The OTDC MD, OTDC architecture and design experts would make field visits from Tuesday and prepare an estimate for raising the structure and other service infrastructure. A committee for finalization of the design, configuration, cost and management of the project would be formed comprising the Principal Secretary Home, Secretary Culture, Chief Administrator Jagnnath Temple, Director Tourism, OTDC MD, Collector, Puri and one senior official from the Finance department.
According to the design experts, the structures can be raised within 2 months and will be complete water proof. The OTDC would set up temporary suits during Rathyatra and Nabakalebara in the Panthanivas complexes and provide online booking of such suits on a pilot basis. These suits would also be available for the tourists during the New Year, Panchuka and Kartika Purnima at Puri and Chnadrabhaga.