The Jagannath temple at Digha will be inaugurated on 30 April, 2025 on the holy day of Akshay Tritiya, announced chief minister Mamata Banerjee today.

She said she would pull the rath (chariot) at Digha, next year. As she will not be in the city on the day of Ratha Yatra next year she will pull the rope of the rath organised by the ISKCON next year on the day of Ultarath. Miss Banerjee pulls the rath of ISKCON Kolkata every year to mark the beginning of the festival.

She said she would come to Digha a day before the Rath Yatra to oversee the last minute arrangements. A huge rath has been built and kept at the temple complex.

Miss Banerjee along with chief secretary Manoj Pant and senior officers of Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) visited the temple complex to see the ongoing construction. The director general of police Rajeev Kumar and other senior officers of East Midnapore district administration, including the district magistrate accompanied Miss Banerjee.

The temple complex has come up on 20 acres of land and the estimated cost of Rs 128 crore. Miss Banerjee had announced construction of the temple at the administrative review meeting of East Midnapore in 2018. The construction work was badly hit due to the Covid pandemic in 2020. HIDCO was been assigned to do the construction.

Miss Banerjee said a building of the East Midnapore zilla parishad, situated close to the temple complex, will be taken over and quarters of the priests will be set up there. There will be a police station too.

The idols of Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra are made of marble but the images of the trio made of neem wood will be worshipped daily. A gate will be set up at the entrance and named after Chaitanya Dev. A statue of Chaitanya Dev will be installed near the gate.

There will be rooms to cook the bhog, the food that is offered to the deity. There will be a store room and rooms for the guests. Like the Jagannath temple in Puri, a dwaja (flag) will be installed at the top of the temple. There will be an earmarked area from where the devotees will be able to purchase flowers and other items which will be offered to the trio. Different types of wares made by the members of self-help groups will be sold at the temple complex.

Miss Banerjee instructed the district administration to ensure that all the last minute touches are completed within the next three months. Senior state government officers said the tourist attraction of Digha will go up due to the temple. Digha has become a major tourist attraction ever since Mamata Banerjee government came to power in 2011.

It was Dr BC Roy, who developed Digha in the early 1960s. During the Left Front regime no major development took place. Now, the coastal town is in the tourist map of India and on weekends it is difficult to get a place to stay.