Bhubaneswar, January 30: Expressing dissatisfaction over the tardy process of collection of consent forms from people for selection of beneficiaries to be included under the Shri Jagannath Darshan Yojana (SJDY), the Tourism Department has directed all district collectors to personally monitor and expedite the collection of consent forms under the Shri Jagannath Darshan Yojana (SJDY).

To ensure that age, distance, or financial constraints do not prevent devotees to visit Jagannath Temple, Puri, the State Government has announced a new scheme - Shri Jagannath Darshan Yojana - to facilitate economically weaker senior citizens and widows of all ages of Odisha in fulfilling their long-cherished dream of visiting the 12th century shrine.

The scheme provides organised, safe, and comfortable pilgrimage opportunities with a view of fostering spiritual enrichment, emotional satisfaction, and social harmony among the beneficiaries.

Although the scheme is set to be launched soon and eligible beneficiaries - senior citizens aged 60-75 and widows up to 75 years under pension schemes - have been identified automatically, consent is mandatory to participate.

“In this context DoT has already had a brief interaction with District Social Security Officers (DSSOs) of all districts on 13.01.2026 to collect consents from each beneficiary on the pension distribution day on 15.01.2026 in respect of their concerned G.P. in order to become eligible to participate in the said scehme during the scheme period. However, collection of consent forms are not satisfactory in most of the districts,” Tourism Director Deepankar Mohapatra wrote in a letter to the district Collectors on January 27.

Despite prior instructions to collect consent during the pension distribution day on 15 January 2026, progress has been unsatisfactory in most districts. With a State target of 5,000 beneficiaries in FY 2025–26 and 30,000 in FY 2026–27, district administrations, DSSOs, and Tourism Development Officers have been asked to take immediate and necessary action to speed up the process.

“Hence, you are requested to look into this matter personally for speeding up of collection of consent form for selection of beneficiaries in this scheme in the FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27 where State target is 5,000 and 30,000 in this financial years,” wrote Mohapatra.