Servitors divided over opening of Sri Jagannath Temple

PURI: Even as the State Government has initiated the process of reopening of temples and instructed the administrations to prepare plan of action for the purpose, the servitors of Sri Jagannath Temple are divided on the issue. 

A major section of the servitors is against reopening of the shrine in view of the continuing surge of coronavirus in Puri and across the State as well as the rising infection rate among the priests.Senior servitor and member of temple managing committee Ramchandra Dasmahapatra said the temple body in consultation with Chhattisha Nijog had closed the temple on March 29 to curb the spread of coronavirus. Still over 56 servitors were infected and around a dozen have lost their lives. 

As many as 2,290 servitor families render their services at the shrine and 80-85 of them perform the rituals on a daily basis. After 60 servitors were tested positive, substitutes were arranged by the temple administration to perform the regular rituals. But, even then several of them got infected, he said. 

Another senior servitor Madhab Mahapatra said during the upcoming holy month of Kartik, hundreds of devotees, mostly elderly persons, will visit the town for observing the month-long Kartik Brata. This apart, during the month, famous Nagarjuna Vesha of the Trinity is scheduled to be observed at the temple after a gap of 23 years. In 1993, during the ritual, six devotees were killed in a stampede. “If the temple is reopened, it would be tough for the administration to manage the crowd of devotees who would be eager to visit the shrine after a gap of almost seven months,” he said. 

On the other hand, senior servitor Binayak Dasmahapatra welcomed the Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy’s directive to Puri Collector and Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on modalities to reopen the shrine for devotees. “During unlock 5.0, temples across the country have been opened for devotees while adhering to Covid-19 guidelines. Then why is the administration not reopening Sri Jagannath Temple for devotees,” he questioned. 

However, many locals are not in favour of the opening the temple. They said the shrine should be reopened for devotees after Nagarjuna Vesha as the crowd at the shrine during the ritual would lead to a spike in the number of positive cases in the town, which due to sustained efforts of the district administration, is witnessing a downward trend for the last few days. 

Meanwhile, chief administrator of Sri Jagannath temple Krishan Kumar said discussions will be held with the nijogs and other stake holders through video conferencing on reopening of the shrine. The first such conference would be held on Friday. It would continue for six days, he informed.