Puri: A week after the extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ ravaged coastal Odisha, a team of senior officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reached here on Friday to assess the level of structural damages to the Puri Srimandir and the Konark Sun Temple.
Through a tweet, the Union Culture Ministry informed that ASI Director General Usha Sharma, accompanied by a team of senior officials, have reached Odisha to assess the damages caused to the temples by Cyclone Fani.
A high level team of ASI officials visits Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri and Sun Temple, Konark to assess the damage caused by cyclone Fani https://t.co/vbYvAntKPB
— Ministry of Culture (@MinOfCultureGoI) May 10, 2019
Prior to this, the Superintending Archaeologist of ASI Bhubaneswar Circle inspected the monuments and “found no major damage to structure of the temple but damages only on the surface.”
A team of ASI Officials had also visited the historic Sun Temple at Konark and observed that by and large, there is no structural damage to the monument, which will be restored back to normal within about a fortnight
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and asked him to depute a high level team of experts to assess the damages caused to the heritage temples.
“As you are aware, the extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall near Puri on May 3 and caused extensive damage and destruction. It is reported that significant damage has been caused to the infrastructure of Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri. Even the Sun Temple at Konark is reportedly closed for tourists,” CM Naveen said.
Cyclone Fani, which made landfall at Puri on May 3, battered the entire coastal area and caused extensive damage to Jagannath temple. As per information from the temple management authority, the loss caused by Fani to the 12th-century shrine has been estimated at `5.1 crore.
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