Ratna Bhandar to be opened after 34 years today

0

KaligaTV News Network

Puri: Ratna Bhandar, the chamber containing Lord Jagannath’s treasure in Srimandir will be opened after 34 years today.

As per schedule the Ratna Bhandar, which was last opened in 1984, will be opened at 2 PM for its assessment of the structural stability and safety.

Earlier a 10-member team were to enter into the Ratna Bhandar. However, the number of the team was increased to 17 yesterday.

Tadau Karan and Deula Karan, Pattajoshi Mohapatra, Bhandar Mekap, representative of Puri King Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb, Orissa High Court representative Justice NK Mohanty, Puri Collector and SP, three engineers of ASI, two officials of ASI’s technical core committee – GC Mitra and NC Pal, two members of Ratna Bhandar sub-committee, SJTA Chief Pradeep Jena and Chief Administrator (Rituals) Pradeep Kumar Das are in the inspection team.

The Ratna Bhandar inspection team will go through a three-tier check before entry to the Ratna Bhandar. Each member of the inspection team will be frisked by police officials to bar them from taking any kind of metal items or electronic gadgets with them inside treasury.

In the second stage they would be required to change their clothes by donning the ‘gamuchha’ (traditional towel) provided by the temple administration and only then would be allowed to pass through the ‘Beharana Dwara’ to reach near the entrance of the Ratna Bhandar.

In the final step, the inspectors would be scanned thoroughly by the servitors of the temple authorised to check the Ratna Bhandar entrants as per the temple tradition.

The team members will be frisked again after the completion of the inspection. The whole process will be videographed.

The Jagamohan repair work will be stalled for today in view of the inspection. Similarly, other rituals of the temple will remain suspended during the inspection.

Meanwhile, the district administration has made elaborate security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident.

Four-member team guided by Subhendu Mallik of Snake Helpline have reached the Srimandir to give Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to SJTA officials. Two of them will remain present during the inspection.

Besides, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) and fire services have been stationed in the sites to address any emergency.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.