In view of the growing resentment among servitors of the Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri against the non-fulfilment of their demands, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced a series of welfare schemes for them in a bid to satisfy them and ensure smooth conduct of the ensuing Nabakalebar festival scheduled in July this year.
The announcement was made after a preparatory meeting on Nabakalebar presided over by Chief Minister at the State Secretariat here. Patnaik told the media that a model public school would be set up in Puri town where servitors’ children would be provided free education to enable them to acquire the required knowledge to “compete with the best”.
“Besides the regular curriculum, the school will provide courses in Vedic education. Ten acres of land has been identified at Matitota in the town for setting up of the school,” he said. The Government also decided to provide a monthly scholarship ranging from Rs100 to Rs500 for the children of servitors studying in Classes 1 to X while those pursuing technical education would be provided with a scholarship up to Rs25,000, Patnaik said. Besides, 8,900 members of 1,930 servitors’ families would be provided with an insurance cover. “The insurance cover will be up to Rs2 lakh for seven members of a family for which Rs60 lakh will be incurred as annual premium,” the Chief Minister said.
The Government also decided to provide low-cost houses to the landless and homestead-less servitors for which five acres of land has been identified in the town.