Bhubaneswar, May 21: Archaeological Survey of India will take up repair of Jagamohana (area infront of the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri) within a week time, the Central team that inspected the condition of the structure in Puri announced on Friday.A central team led by Union Culture Secretary Narendra Sinha and consisting of ASI Director General Rakesh Tiwari, experts from ASI, IIT Chennai and others today visited the temple and held detailed discussion with the Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb there before holding a round of talks with State government officials led by Chief Secretary AP Padhi at State Secretariat.
Former Chairman of the Technical Committee formed to supervise the restoration work GC Mitra also joined the talks after receiving an invitation from the State government.Chief Secretary AP Padhi told newsmen after discussion with the team that the work will start within a week supervised by experts from IIT Chennai, IIT Kharagpur, NIT Rourkela, ASI among others. Padhi said, the repair work will start before the Snan Purnima festival of the Trinity while experts from IIT Chennai will make a detailed study of the damage to arrive at a permanent solution.Union Culture Secretary Sinha told newsmen in Puri that the condition of the structure in the 12th century edifice was ‘serious’ and the repair work will be initiated soon.
The meeting was also attended by Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, PWD Secretary NK Pradhan, Law Secretary Bibhu Prasad Routray. The condition of the Jagamohana had caused concern among the people of the State and all the major political parties had called for immediate repair. Mitra, who has since quit his post, had urged all concerned to take the issue urgently otherwise which the monument may go the Sun Temple Konark way.
While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally intervene and visited the shrine two three days ago, a Congress delegation led by Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra visited the temple yesterday and PCC demanded a white paper on its condition on the lines of 1992.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dhamendra Pradhan had urged Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma to take up repair of the monument on war footing while ruling BJD had threatened to take to street if restoration was not taken up immediately.
