Bengal govt's Rs 100-cr Jagannath Temple in Digha to be complete by 2023

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The Rs 100-crore Jagannath Temple being built by the West Bengal government at the beach town of Digha in Purba Medinipur district will be completed by December 2023, an official said on Saturday.

The temple, coming up on a 20-acre plot near the beach, is being built by West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO), resembling the centuries-old Jagannath Temple in Odisha's Puri.

The 65-metre-high temple will have idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, WBHIDCO chief engineer Suman Neogi said.

The Digha Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA) will be running the affairs of the temple when the construction is complete, he said.

"We are hopeful about completing the project by the end of next year. Around 200 labourers are working round the clock to realise the dream of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to have a Jagannath Temple, resembling the one in Puri, in Digha," Neogi said.

The temple will be of red sandstone, which is being brought from Rajasthan, he said.

"We don't know from where the sandstones of the Puri temple were brought, but we are doing everything possible to have the same architectural flavour," he added.

The construction for the temple started in May this year, he said.

The DSDA will also introduce a light and sound show at the 300-year-old Nayekali Temple near Digha.

"We are spending Rs 15 crore for installing a fountain, and the light and sound show, apart from other beautification initatives at the heritage site," DSDA executive officer Manas Kumar Mondal said.

It will be ready by January next year, he said.

The initiatives are a part of the Digha-Mandarmani tourism circuit, the officials said.

"We want tourists to explore Digha-Mandarmani in more than one way," Mondal said.