Queue system for devotees at Sri Jagannath temple from today

PURI: Queue system will be introduced at Sri Jagannath temple here on an experimental basis from Monday as part of the reform measures suggested by the Supreme Court. As per the new arrangement, devotees will enter the 12th century shrine by forming a queue at ‘Singhadwara’ and move inside through barricades.

After having a ‘darshan’ of the deities inside the temple, the devotees will exit through three other gates. Infrastructural work for the queue system has already been initiated by  Sri  Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and iron railings are being installed for formation of separate lines. The decision to implement the queue system on a trial basis was taken at a meeting of Jagannath Temple Managing Committee headed by Puri Gajapati  Dibyasingha Deb on Thursday, according to SJTA Chief Administrator P K Mohapatra. The move aims at ensuring smooth and hassle-free ‘darshan’ of the deities as a large number of devotees visit the temple every day.

Puri district Collector Jyoti Prakash Das, who visited the temple to oversee the work underway for the new system, said necessary steps are being taken to ensure proper implementation of the queue system. “Queue system is being started purely on trial basis and further improvements can be brought after observing how it works,” he said.

Puri SP Sarthak Sarangi said the new system is being introduced on an experimental basis and if necessary, modifications may be effected later after observation for a few days.

After the apex court suggestion, the State Government had constituted a three-member panel comprising former temple chief administrator S C Mohapatra, IGP  Soumendra Priyadarshi and temple managing body member Mahimohan Tripathy to study the system of ‘deity darshan.’ The panel, as per the direction of the Supreme Court, visited Tirupati, Akshardham, Somnath and other important shrines to study the ‘deity darshan’ arrangements for the devotees there.

The panel, in its report, suggested introduction of the queue system. The temple body resolved to implement the system in Puri temple. Prior to that, daily attendance of devotees was counted by the police personnel in all the four gates of the temple for a fortnight. The average daily attendance of devotees was counted and it was found feasible to introduce the queue system.