Puri: A BJP team from Odisha on Wednesday met Puri King Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb to discuss the state government’s excessive delay in reopening the Srimandir Ratna Bhandar.
The BJP team featured Pitambar Acharya, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Jayanarayan Mishra, and former State President Samir Mohanty.
The BJP wanted the State government and the SJTA to clear the air on the safety of the Ratna Bhandar and its ornaments. As the Puri King is the President of the Temple Managing Committee, the party submitted a memorandum urging him to press the State government to take immediate steps to reopen it.
It is pertinent to mention that the Ratna Bhandar has been a contentious issue for the State government and the Opposition for several years.
The issue has now reached the Orissa High Court as the BJP and Congress have stepped up their demand to reopen the Ratna Bhandar and conduct an inventory.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC) may recommend the formation of a high-level committee to the Orissa High Court for oversight of the inventory of the jewels held in the Ratna Bhandar.
The court further ordered the government to establish the committee within 60 days of the date the SJTMC approached them.
The court issued this ruling after deliberating on a plea that BJP member Samir Mohanty had submitted.
On Saturday, Ranjan Das, the head of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), declared that the Ratna Bhandar Lord Jagannath temple in Puri is secure and that there is no need for concern in response to the High Court’s ruling.
SJTA chief Das responded when asked about the status of the special committee that the court had appointed, saying that it would be discussed at the next meeting of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee and that the High Court would be appropriately informed.
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