Hooghly, 13 June (H.S.)

Political uproar has started over the decision to distribute Lord Jagannath's prasad from ration shops in West Bengal. The administration is preparing to deliver Bhagwan Jagannath's prasad to 25 to 26 thousand families through ration shops in Hooghly-Chuchura Municipality area. For this, Hooghly Sadar Magistrate Smita Sanyal Shukla held a meeting with ration dealers on Thursday afternoon. Regarding the distribution of prasad, the Magistrate said, Whether there is a ration card or not, everyone can take the prasad if they want. Ration shop is just a medium of distribution. Prasad will be distributed in several phases He said, Everyone visits ration shop, so ration shops have been chosen for distribution of prasad. All blocks and municipalities have been given different targets. The distribution will be done accordingly.

Ration dealer Kalyaneshwar Saha said, Despite the pressure, we are happy to be a part of this work. We want the prasad to reach the shops simultaneously so that there can be coordination in the distribution of prasad.

However, BJP MLA Biman Ghosh took a dig at this initiative and said, This prasad is not coming from the Jagannath temple, but from the cultural center. Prasad will be distributed in ration from that center built with your money - this is ridiculous. Prasad means devotion, it is being insulted by distributing it in ration shops. If this was real prasad, I would have accepted it, like it came after the construction of Ram temple. But in this way the Chief Minister wants to make a name for herself with tax money.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey