Meetings of Meetings - 18- Oct- 2009

Above are two pictures of the meeting: The display of the hand painting of the much awaited Jagannath temple! The painting tool the artists 15 days to create.

Utkal Samaj Meeting: 18-Oct-2009

Venue: Dhanori,

Mr M. Mahapatra's house

Attended by:

1. Mr Triluchan Biswal

2. Mr L K Sahoo

3. Mr K C Das

4. Mr A K Mohanty

5. Mr TK Pradhan

6 Mr S R Sunkara

7. Mr B Sahoo

8. Mr C Barik

9 Mr A C Sahoo

10. Mr A K Bal

11. Dr L K Tripathy

12 Mr BK Gouda

13 Mr A K Samal

14 Mr B Biswal

15 Mr P K Dash

16 Mr A Sahu

17 Mr D Das

18 Mr B K Jena

19. Mr K Rath

Events:

1. Participants introduced themselves

2. Dr LK Tripathy gave a presentation of last week's meeting.

3. Updates on Utkal Samaj activities- Temple progress: By A K Bal.

A K Bal said that the purpose of having meetings at various places was to gather more members for Utkal Samaj and to create division/branches of Utkal Samaj which would help the growth of the larger cause of Odiya's in Pune. He thanked the participation of the Air Force community in the various functions held in the past, including the Sri Jagannath Temple pujas. He highlighted that earth escavation work in the Temple land is done free of cost as was with the Architects. He urged Odiyas to come forward and help in increasing the membership for Utkal Samaj as well as contribute to the construction of the temple. He requested the audience to share their views on the Rs 500 per month Scheme . Dr LK Tripathy opened the floor for discussion.

Mr C Barik asked if the amount of Rs 500 was fixed, as his concern was that there maybe people who may not be able to afford that much money and may not contribute. Mr AK Bal and Mr PK Dash stressed that the Amount is immaterial, however, what is important is the "Recurring" deposit.

Mr BK Gauda supported the scheme saying that the scheme is good however the amount should depend on the person's monetary capacity.

Temple Progress: Mr AK Bal narrated the incidents behind the decision of constructing the temples in stone - as per the wishes of the main donators. Mr Bal also shared that during his visit to Puri, he met a group that would help in the stone work. They have already sent in the temple drawing which was displayed to the audience.

Mr PK Dash urged the audience that this temple is for all Odiyas and not any personal property and asked the audience on how each can contribute. Mr A Sahu asked for a clarification on the money that would be collected for the Utkal Samaj memebership and asked if this money woud be used for the temple. Mr Bal and Dr Tripathy replied that the membership fees would be put in Fixed Deposit and the interest earned would be used for holding Utkal Samaj functions.

Mr AK Bal and Mr AK Dash proposed that Dhanori and surrounding areas should have a local Utkal Samaj whose representative would help facilitate the growth of Utkal Samaj. This was accepted by all the members present. It was decided that Mr Ajaya Kumar Samal and Mr Murlidhar Mahapatra would lead the Lohegaon sector - This sector would include areas of Dhanori, Lohegaon, Vishrantwadi, Tingre Nagar, Sant Nagar and Gurudwar Nagar.

Dr LK Tripathy handed over 17 membership forms to Mr Samal.

The form for the Sri Jagannath Trust was submitted on Oct-14th. It will take about a month of the formalities to get completed.

The following people have in principle agreed to become member of Utkal Samaj, Pune for the Lohegaon sector:

1. Mr K C Das

2. Mr B Biswal

3. Mr T Biswal

4. Mr BK Gaud

5. Mr S Sunkara

6. Mr A Sahu

7. Mr BK Jena

8. Mr DN Das

9. MrMurlidhar Mahapatra

10. Mr B P Sahoo

11. Mr S Sahu

12. Mr D Routary.

The venue of the next meeting will be in Vinman Nagar in Mr L K Sahoo's house. For exact venue please email utkalsamajpune@gmail.com The details are not published on the internet for privacy issues.

Utkal Samaj Minutes of Meeting - Oct 04 2009

Utkal Samaj Minutes of Meeting - Oct 04 2009

Location: Ordinance Factory Hospital, Khadki

1. Introductions: The participants introduced themeseleves.

2. Shri Amulya Kumar Bal, president, Utkal Samaj gave updates of the temple

construction progress. He stressed that the registration of trust was

important and most of the other tasks needed for the construction of the

temple depended on the registration of the trust.

He has said that the following activities need to happen as soon as possible

• Drawing of the construction
• Water and electricity at the site
• Selection of Supervisor.
• Preparation of brochure

He said that the monthly expenditure of Rs 10 Lakhs will need to be funded

for activties to happen smoothly.

3. Dr P K Rath suggested if it was possible to have the temporary temple built first

and then have the rest of the temples built. Shri Bal replied that there was a provision

for a temporray temple, however, it would also be best to have the Ganesh Temple

built, as was followed in Chennai model.

Follow ups for the next meeting:

1. Trust registration - Status update - Dr LK Tripathy

2. Bank account for Jagannath Temple: Shri AK Bal to open/lead the account opening

3. Everyone in the meeting to contribute to the Rs 500 per month scheme and also

bring a list of other Oriya memebers who would contribute to the scheme.

4. The next meeting would be on Sunday, 18th Oct - the Venue will be finalized by

Shri AK Dash.

GO Green Drive

The Go Green drive held jointly by Utkal Samaj with Rotary Club, Hadapsar was held on September 20 2009. The purpose of the drive was to plant trees on the Shree Shree Jagannath temple site. The planting of trees had to carefully planned, as each tree was selected for a particular temple. The long term benefit of increased water level by planting trees, along with the beautification of the land, seemed to drive everyone to participate. The plantation was followed by a delicious Lunch.



Utkal Samaj THANKS the Rotary club of Hadapsar to spend the Sunday morning by the whole hearted participating in kind and spirit for the "Go Green Drive".

Jagannath Temple Work has started!

The work at the Jagannath temple has started! Yes! It has. The excavation work started on August 14th. Utkal Samaj blog site will now bring weekly updates on the progress of the the construction work.

For those who believe in seeing than hearing, here are some pictures! And please please do visit the temple construction site to get the feeling of what is being built.

We know that you are also willing to contribute. On how you can, please call 9823252848, Utkal Samaj number.

We are now in a drive to collect funds. Please do contribute generously so that we all can have the temple constructed as soon as possible.

A very high level plan is to now have the temporary temple built, while the main temple work will take place in parallel. The main temple (whose details will be posted soon), will take about 7 to 10 years to build. In the meanwhile the temporary temple will function.

For more details please call 9823252848, Utkal Samaj number. or email utkalsamajpune@gmail.com

Ganesh Puja - Cancelled

The Ganesh Puja that was planned to be held on Aug-23 has been cancelled. With the spread of swine flu, large gathering needed to be avoided, and hence this Puja function has been cancelled. We understand that so many Oriyas and others were so excited to attend the function, as we in Utkal Samaj were, but if this is was the wish of Lord Ganesh, we go by it.

Swine flu link (India Government website) : http://india.gov.in/citizen/health/h1n1.php

Utkal Samaj Minutes of Meeting - July 05 2009

After the Jagannath Temple puja in April, there has been no activities on the temple land. It was urged to members to involve themselves in activities which would help in expediting the construction work.

The target date of the temporary temple is October end. To achieve this, and to kick start the construction of the Main Temple, the following points were discussed.

• Creation of the trust : The Jagannath Temple Trust has to be created before beginning any activity. Dr L.K Tripathy read a draft version of the trust. The final version of the trust will be shared once it is reviewed by Shri N Mahapatro.
• Main vision: One of the additions that was suggested was that the puja conducted in the Jagannath temple would be as per the Puri Temple rituals.
• Timeline for Trust: The trust registration needs to be completed within one month. Dr L.K Tripathy to follow up on this matter.
• Trustee members: The maximum number of trustees can be 15. Hence, it was decided that the about 5 members from Utkal Samaj would be included as trustees. These members need to contribute significant amount of their time towards the construction of temple. Another 5 trustees would be prominent and eminent Oriyas in Pune, who could bring in significant amount of financial and other help towards the construction of the temple. The remaining 5 members would be from the land donors and other donors (ie temple construction / land / material contributors) or anyone who the Land Owner wishes to include.
• Utkal Samaj members who would be trustees: Shri Ajay Mohanty, Shri Sisir Mahapatra and Shri Amulya Kumar Bal.
• Eminent Oriyas who could be approached are Shri Kailash Mishra, Shri Ravindra Behera, Shri Bhujbal, Shri Achyuta Samant.
• Temple founding members: Other Utkal Samaj members and others who can contribute Rs 1 Lakh or more would be termed as Founding Members. Any member who has also significantly contributed towards the cause of the construction of the temple would also qualify as founding member.
• Temple members: any other person who donates an amount (yet to be finalised) would be a member of the temple. Benefits to founding members and members would be decided later.
• Brochure and hand outs: Once the trustee members are decided, the temple architects would finalize the plans, and would create a brochure of the temple.
• The temple land excavation work would begin from Thursday, July 9th.

Ganesh Puja plans were also discussed.

• Puja money to be collected will be RS 200/- for family (4 members) and Rs 100/- for Single/Bachelors. Rs 50/- would go towards the construction of the Jagannath temple. However, participants would be encouraged to donate more.
• Money collected for the function would be handed over to Shri Sisri Mohapatra, who would be the new treasurer for Utkal Samaj Pune.
• Shridhar Sahoo and Krishna Rath would be in charge of the cultural activities and also on spot fund collection.
• The Puja would be held in the morning and should finish by 11 PM following which a cultural program would be held. Lunch will follow the cultural program.

Jagannath temple Website

With the launch of the Sri Sri Jagannath temple website at www.punejagannath.com, it is now possible for the devotees to access and know any information about the temple. Designed and promoted by Sri Sisir Mahapatra, this website will have details about the temple progress and also list any Oriya Cultural festival or event that is scheduled to held in and around Pune.

The website is building up and we would , as always, expect any suggestion and support to ensure that the devotees of Lord Jagannath can have presense of the Lord at Pune!