Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, Thursday sanctioned Rs 23 crore for development of pilgrim amenities of 23 religious institutions. The funds will be met out of the special problem fund. Ten temples, 5 churches, 4 mosques and 2 gurdwaras will get Rs 1 crore each.

Narsingnath temple-Bargarh, Harishankar temple- Bolangir, Maa Bhadrakali -Bhadrak, Jaganath temple-Boudh, Biraja temple-Jajpur, Sri Chandrasekharjew -Kapilash, Gupteswar-Koraput, Lord Baldevjew – Keonjhar and Nilakantheswar-Nabarangpur. Among churches are Bhubaneswar Union Church, Khorda Bapist Church, Bolangir CNI Church, Cuttack Mount House Church and St. Paul Protestant Church of Bhawanipatna.

The mosques those have included are Jahania Pir- Puri, Hazir Abdul Sakur Baba- Sonepur Dargah-e- Huzoor of Bhadrak, Bhujakhia Pir- Balasore, Bhubaneswar Jama Masjid and Hazrat Bukhari Pir Baba, Kaipadar in Khorda.

Similarly, the Guru Singh Sahiba Gudwar of Rourkela and Bouli Math of Puri have been sanctioned Rs 1 crore each.