Puri, May 19 : Even as senior BJP leader Bijaya Mohapatra called Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to the Puri temple an act of playing to the gallery, the latter today took stock of the situation inside the temple and discussed with the officials and servitors about the repair work of the Jagamohan.
State government will ensure repair and conservation of Jagamohana (prayer hall adjacent to the sanctum sanctorum) of the Shree Jagannath temple said Patnaik after going around the 13th century shrine on Wednesday.
“I have seen the damage that has been done to the Jagamohana. On the 20th of this month the Director General (DG), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Culture secretary from Delhi will be coming after that we will be taking a decision. As far as the mandir is concerned my government will make all-out efforts for whatever is required. A meeting will be held with the Culture secretary on 20th. I spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him for early repair of the Jagannath mandir,” said Patnaik while speaking to reporters after emerging from the temple.
The Chief Minister, who spent about half-an-hour inside the temple, said he has spoken to the Prime Minister on the matter and added: “As far as the temple is concerned, my government will make all efforts.”
“We showed the Chief Minister the cracks in the columns and beams of Jagamohan. He also saw the structural map of the temple. We will fully cooperate with the ASI team to take up the repair work,” Suresh Mohapatra, the chief administrator of Sri Jagannth Temple, who accomp;anied Patnaik during the visit, told reporters here.
He said the Chief Minister visited the temple and saw for himself in detail the condition of the Jagamohana.
“We explained to him about the cracks in the beams and the columns. We also showed him photographs of the design prepared by the core committee to save it and discussed other reports on the matter”, said Mohapatra, adding that the Union secretary Culture, DG ASI will be visiting the shrine on May 20.
The team will be staying for around two hours in the temple before meeting the chief secretary at Bhubaneswar in the afternoon, he said. “We are hopeful that a permanent solution will certainly emerge soon after that. We are very much worried since Rath Yatra is approaching,” he further added.
“Chief Minister told us that he has spoken to the Prime Minister over the telephone on this account. We are hopeful that there will be desired progress in the repair work which was being hitherto neglected. This work has to be finished before Snana Purnima because after that no repair work can take place in the sanctum sanctorum as certain secret rituals of the deities are undertaken there during that time,” said Talachhu Mohapatra, president of the Puspalak Nijog.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress welcomed Patnaik’s visit to the temple and his inspection of Jagamohan.
Earlier in the day, Chief Administrator Mohapatra took a meeting of the representatives of 11 nijogs (temple servitor bodies), members of the temple management committee and discussed issues pertaining to repair and conservation work of the Jagamohan ahead of the ensuing Rath Yatra.
Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the latter’s personal intervention into the matter also spoke to him on May 17 on the matter and earned assurance from him that all efforts would be put in place to save the 13th century shrine from any damage.
Speaking to newsmen on Patnaik’s visit to Puri temple, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said that the chief minister and his government wasted precious time before waking up to deal with such an important issue.
“Chief Minister’s visit is a much delayed step. When I and Dilip Ray could raise the issue before Prime Minister on March 14, why the State government under Patnaik’s command and the ASI too did not give enough significance to this matter’, questioned Mohapatra while calling Patnaik’s visit a much ostentatious act.
It may be recalled that Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray who along with Bijay Mohapatra raised the issue of Jagamohan repair during their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a couple of months before discussed the matter with Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi on May 17.
Sharma assured Ray that an expert team headed by Tourism and Culture Secretary accompanied by DG ASI would visit Jagannath temple May 20th for a detailed review.
