Puri: The Nata Mandap repairing work of Puri Srimandir will begin from February 23 and will continue till March 19. However, devotees’ darshan of Lord Jagannath and his sibling will continue. Decision to this effect was taken during an important meeting of the Puri Chhattisa Nijog today.
As decided in the meeting, the Nata Mandap repairing work will be done from 1 PM to 7 PM every day. Some rituals also have been finalised by the Niti subcommittee to ensure that the rituals of the holy trinity are not disrupted during the work.
Earlier, the top part of the Nata Mandap was joined and cleaned. The main beam will be braced to repair the crack. A total of four stainless steel beams will be installed. For this, the design has been finalized and permission has already been obtained.
On February 23, the Singhadwar will open from 2 AM and at the Pahuda (closing of the door) will take place at 11 PM.
The Chhattisa Nijog meeting also discussed matter regarding the darshan of the Lord by the differently-able people. From now onwards, the Divyang devotees can have darshan of the Lord in the temple once in a month. After they register with the administration office of the temple, the attendants will answer them and help them for darshan. The details and date will be finalised soon, informed Samarth Verma, the Additional Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration.
There is a minor crack in the north-side joint of Ratna Bhandar and it will be repaired very soon, informed ASI Superintendent DB Gadanayak.
It is to be noted here that a 15-member ASI team comprising architects, expert engineers and scientific photographers conducted the laser scanning of the shrine’s ‘Ratna Bhandar’ on November 29 and 30.
Ms Kalinga