Logjam Aftermath: Darshan of deities continues at Srimandir, Pahili Bhoga ritual resumes

Puri: Darshan of the deities at Sri Jagannath Temple continued uninterrupted till the wee hours today and Pahada ritual was performed at around 3 am, following a logjam between administration and servitors which lasted for 10 hours yesterday.

Lakhs of devotees who turned up at the religious town this morning were allowed to have darshan of the Holy Trinity this morning also and they have been given a short break for the performing of Pahili Bhoga and Gopalaballav rituals. The darshan will again resume at 11 am, as per the source.

Notably, a verbal duel erupted between some policemen deployed on duty at Srimandir and servitor Bhawani Shankar Mohapatra of Bhitarichha servitor group over allowing a Bengali family into the temple on Thursday night. While the cops demanded identity card for entry suspecting the family to be of foreign origin, they failed to show them. Later a fist-off took place between Mohapatra and the cops over the matter as the latter came in support of the tourists. Two cases have been lodged by both the parties in the case at Singhadwara Police Station.

Servitors disrupted all rituals of the deities at Srimandir since yesterday morning. The logjam continued despite several efforts of the temple and district administration till 4.30 pm, when servitors lift their stir.

It is estimated that around 6 lakh devotees are thronging the Srimandir on the occasion of this New Year.