Puri: Good news for Lord Jagannath’s devotees as Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to allow public darshan on the occasion Akshaya Tritiya and Chandan Jatra.
It will be after a long and unprecedented gap of two years, devotees will be allowed two witness the grand religious events associated with Rath Yatra and Puri Jagannath Temple. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, public darshan was restricted for all rituals and events of Shree Jagannath Temple in 2020 and 2021.
SJTA Chief Administrator Vir Vikram Yadav made the announcement after a meeting of the Chhattisa Nijog held here on Tuesday. “Since COVID infection rate has dropped, we took a collective decision to allow devotees attend the major rituals and events scheduled in the coming months,” the newly appointed SJTA chief said.
Speaking about temple security in the wake of the Rosa Ghara vandalism incident, Yadav said, There will be watertight security with all CCTVs made functional. There was a proposal to restrict mobile phones strictly on the temple premises.
Be it devotees, employees or servitors, no should be allowed to carry mobile phones, the representatives of Khuntia Nijog proposed. Similarly, protests infront of the Singhadwar is very likely to be restricted, said sources.
The meeting was held at Niladri Bhakta Nivas today. Among others, Collector Samarth Verma, Superintendent of Police Dr Kanwar Vishal Singh and senior Servitors of the century-old shrine were present.
