The foundation stone laying ceremony of a Jagannath temple at Sahakar Nagar in Bangalore was held by Jagannath Seva Trust of the Odia diaspora.
Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and Kalinga University, Chhattisgarh VC Dr Jagannath Patnaik jointly laid the stone.
Among others, the distinguished guests were Chetan, Councilor of Sahakar Nagar, Manjunath, an entrepreneur and Rajanna, a landlord, besides all the trustees of Jagannath temple.
Dr Patnaik and Gowda first offered Puja inside the temple and after that did the Bhumi Puja. It was followed by earth digging and breaking of coconut amidst chants of Jay Jagannath.
Gowda said he had a dream to do something for Jagannath temple at Puri, but he is fortunate enough to do that in Bangalore itself. He said that late Biju Patnaik was the first person to recommend his name for Prime Ministership. He also praised Naveen Patnaik as very honest and rated him as one of the best Chief Ministers in the country. He also expressed his happiness about Odia community in Bangalore doing good thing.
Dr Jagannath Pattanaik in his speech highlighted about Jagannath culture and thanked Gowda to attend the function on his request. He also thanked all trustees of the temple to spread Jagannath culture in Bangalore city and Karnataka.
Ranjan Acharya in his closing speech thanked Gowda and Dr Jagannath Pattanaik for coming to the temple by spending their valuable time. He also requested them to support Jagannath Seva Trust for the construction of the temple.