Bhubaneswar: A high-level meeting involving senior administrative, police and temple authorities was held on Monday to ensure that incidents like the one that disrupted darshan at the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri on January 4 are not repeated, officials said.
Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee said the meeting was attended by Puri Collector Dibya Jyoti Parida, Puri Superintendent of Police Prateek Singh, senior district officials, police personnel, and representatives of temple servitors (sevayats).
The participants reviewed the circumstances leading to the incident and unanimously agreed on the need for better coordination to avoid such situations in future.
Dr Padhee said the incident had caused inconvenience to devotees and expressed regret over the disruption of darshan. He added that the administration has decided to hold monthly review meetings involving all stakeholders to strengthen coordination and streamline crowd and security management at the 12th-century shrine.
On January 4, the head of the Jagannath Temple Police (JTP) was allegedly assaulted by an Odisha Police personnel during a dispute over the regulation of devotee entry, which led to the temporary closure of the ‘Jai Bijay Dwar’ of the Srimandir. As a result, darshan was suspended for nearly an hour, causing hardship to thousands of devotees.
The incident reportedly followed a scuffle between personnel of the Srimandir Surakshya Bahini, the police force deployed at the temple, and the JTP, the traditional security force of the shrine. The altercation took place at Satapahacha over the management of queue darshan.
According to reports, a seven-lane barricaded queue system had been prescribed as part of the New Year darshan protocol at the Satapahacha entry to the temple’s main tower. However, the JTP commander allegedly noticed that entry was being allowed through only one lane. When he objected and sought the opening of the remaining lanes, a heated exchange ensued.
The JTP commander was allegedly harassed during the altercation, triggering anger among JTP personnel and temple servitors. In protest, they closed the Jai Bijay Dwar, leading to the suspension of darshan before normalcy was restored later.
