Donation pouring in for temple

Donation pouring in for temple

He may be a poor farmer but his heart is larger than any of the top honchos of the corporate world. Till the other day, Bhagaban Patnaik was a nondescript farmer of Rangeilunda block of Ganjam district. But when he donated Rs.1.11 lakh from his own funds for construction of the Grand Temple of Goddess Tara Tarini, eye brows were raised and entire administration was taken aback. The Goddesses TaraTarini have been regarded as the presiding deity(Ista-Devi)in almost every house in South Orissa. The Tara Tarini Development Board (TTDB) is taking up the construction of massive Sandstone built Rekha Style temple, unique to Orissa. The Shri Jagannath temple of Puri and Shri Lingaraj temple of Bhubaneswar are examples of this traditional temple architecture of Orissa. The temple is being built on the hilltop approximately 708 feet at a distance of 30 km towards north of Berhampur on the south bank of river Rushikulya at a cost of Rs.2 crore, for which TTDB is collecting donations from general public. Due to paucity of funds TTDB approached the corporate sectors including Tata Steel, Vedanta Alumina, NALCO and NINL. While NALCO and NINL responded, Tata Steel did not bothered to even reply. Taking cue form the common pilgrims, the TTDB started donation campaign to fund the project. And response of the common people is tremendous, said Satyabrat Sahu, Chairman of TTDB. Mr.Sahu is the Revenue Divisional Commissioner of the Southern Division. After Mr.Sahu took over as the RDC, he is taking a lot of interest in erecting the temple as soon as possible, said Pramod Kumar Panda, Secretary of the TTDB. The TTDB decision to run the Tara Tarini Rath for collection of funds has yielded results, said Mr.Panda. While the poor farmer donated such a huge amount, biggest single contribution came from Arun Kumar Sabat, a Bhubaneswar based Chartered Accountant. Mr.Sabat is having roaring practice, has donated Rs.2.25 lakh for the temple. Nila Madhab Mahapatra, a leading Non Resident Oriya (NRO) has donated Rs.1.11 lakh for the temple. On 16 February, collection was to the tune of Rs.1.58 lakh from Hinjili area, revealed Ajit Kumar Misra, Sub Collector. “Since Novemebr,2007, we have received more than Rs.20 lakh”, said Mr.Misra. Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister is also taking much interest in the temple and has provided Rs.35 lakh. Last week during his visit to the area, Mr.Patnaik reviewed the progress of the construction of the temple and asked to complete the construction at the earliest. Expressing satisfaction over the progress, he promised all out funding support for completion of the temple, said sources close to V Karthikeyan Pandian, Collector Ganjam. Noted sculptor, Padmabibhusan Raghunath Mohapatra is constructing this modern temple in ancient architectural form. Mr. Mohapatra is confident to finish the work on the new temple by next June. The picturesque scenery of the temple from the hill top down to the bank of the River Rushikulya gives immense pleasure and a thrilling experience of nature and divinity to each pilgrims, said Mr.Misra.

Source: http://www.tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1634