Odisha mulls ‘e-hundi’ facility for online donations to Puri Jagannath temple

Odisha government is planning an ‘e-hundi’ system called Samarpan to enable secure online donations to Shree Jagannath Temple. The proposal aims to modernize offerings, ensure cyber safety, and channel funds toward temple development and conservation

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is mulling introducing ‘e-hundi’ facilities for devotees keen to make online donations to the Jagannath temple in Puri, officials said.

The idea was discussed at a meeting chaired by Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan here, following donation requests from devotees in the country and abroad, they said.

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“The Odisha government and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) receive a lot of request from devotees for introducing online payment facility for donations to the 12th century shine,” an official said.

The proposed ‘e-hundi’ mechanism, tentatively named ‘Samarpan’, will allow devotees to securely make donations, he said.

Discussions were also held at the meeting regarding making such online donations tax free, and spending the amount on infrastructure development and conservation of the Jagannath temple in Puri, the official said.

The minister, however, said the authorities should ensure that online transactions to the temple are protected from cyber fraud.