Delay in Puri Jagannath Temple conservation works. Odisha government blames ASI

Ahead of this year’s Rath Yatra and Nabakalebara festival in 2015, the Odisha Government has expressed concern over tardy pace of conservation and renovation work of Jagannath Temple being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Voicing Government’s concern, Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra has written to Ministry of Culture seeking visit of two technical committees during July for joint inspection of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine where the problems of humidity and temperature have lingered on.

This is despite the fact that ASI has a dedicated team stationed at Puri to carry out the conservation tasks faster. “I have been assured by the Union secretary of Culture that a dedicated office of the ASI will be set up at Puri,” Aravind Padhee, chief administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said on January 2014.

Padhee, while speaking to newsmen at that time had said the assurance has come from the Union Culture secretary Ravindra Singh at a meeting he had with him in Puri. Singh who was also present at the briefing said, “The temple administration has informed me about the conservation issues of the ancient shrine. Sri Jagannath Temple is an important place and we will do whatever is required for its conservation”. Singh had assured that the conservation work of the temple will be completed before the Nabakalebar of the Lords in 2015.

But it seems the ASI speed of work is not as per their commitment which has made the odisha government worried because of the approaching Rathyatra soon. Pointing out that the joint review in January had focused on expediting the conservation of ‘Garbha Griha’, ‘Jagamohana’, ‘Nata Mandapa’, ‘Bhoga Mandapa’ and the subsidiary shrines, Mohapatra said the pace of progress and urgency to complete the work by ASI “appears to be sluggish”.

The Chief Secretary’s letter to Union Culture Secretary Ravinder Singh spoke about the nagging problems of humidity and temperature inside the ‘Garbha Griha’ that  remain unresolved.

Mohapatra pointed out that two technical committees had been formed in the past for looking into different problems of the temple. During 1992-93, a panel under the chairmanship of Prof AP Gupta, former head of Civil Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur, had been formed to oversee the conservation of the sanctum sanctorum. It had Director (Conservation) and Director (Science) of ASI as members besides officials of the State Government.

Subsequently, another technical committee was formed by ASI in 2006 for directing as well as monitoring the works of ‘Jagamohana’, ‘Nata Mandapa’ and ‘Bhoga Mandapa’. The panel was headed by Director General of ASI. The technical committees time their inspection of the sanctum sanctorum during the Car Festival when the deities are out on their annual sojourn and inside of the shrine is accessible for at least seven days. This year, the inspection of the ‘Garbha Griha’ has been planned on July 2, three days after Rath Yatra.

Mohapatra has requested Singh to ask the Director General of ASI, Director (Conservation) and Director (Sciences) to expedite the conservation works and resolve related problems at the earliest. Besides, the national agency must ensure that the senior officials participate in the joint inspection of the sanctum sanctorum on the scheduled date, the letter stated.