SJTA rolls back parking fee hike at Puri guest houses, to now charge Rs 240/day

Bhubaneswar: Just over a week after the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had raised the parking fee for four-wheelers at its four guest houses in Puri to Rs 500 per day, it has now decided to roll back the hike and reduce the fee to Rs 240.Saturday's decision follows widespread resentment among devotees, but SJTA refused the roll back had anything to do with it. According to SJTA, the decision was taken to bring the parking fee nearly on a par with that of the Jagannath Ballav parking lot in Puri, which charges Rs 250 for 24 hours.
The decision to reduce the parking fee was taken at the managing committee meeting on Saturday, which was presided over by Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb.Temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee reiterated that room rent in the four guest houses — Neeladri, Nilachala, Gundicha and Purushottam — will not be increased, so as not to inconvenience common people booking their stay in these properties.Padhee said that since there is a shortage of parking space in the four properties, devotees are usually advised to park their four-wheelers in the Jagannath Ballav parking space. "But if they wish to park their four-wheelers in the guest houses, they will have to pay Rs 240, inclusive of GST, for 24 hours. Hardly 5% of the people come to the guest houses in their own cars," Padhee said.