Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday felicitated a servitor of Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri on the launch of Vishwakarma Yojana in New Delhi.
The servitor, Basant Rana, prepares the attires of Lord Jagannath on different occasions in the temple. He prepares the attires of the Lord with flowers, clothes and thermocol on the occasion of Nagarjuna Besha and Padma Besha besides the tableu during Rath Yatra.
Panda also makes garlands of flowers which are offered to sibling deities in the temple for performing different rituals on daily basis. He had offered a huge garland made of Tulasi leaves to the Lord during the visit of President Droupadi Murmu.
Expressing his happiness over the felicitation, Panda said the financial benefits offered by the Vishwakarma scheme would encourage the artisans practising hereditary profession.
Under the Vishwakarma scheme, the government will provide special training to the Vishwakarma partners. The trainees will also get an allowance of Rs 500 and a toolkit voucher worth Rs 1,500.