Puri: All four gates (dwaras) of the Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri have been opened in the presence of the Odisha Council of Ministers on Thursday morning for the ease of darshan of the deities. A decision in this regard was taken in the first Cabinet meeting of the Mohan Majhi government on Wednesday.
Talking about the decisions taken by the BJP government in its first meeting on Wednesday, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi said, “Considering the huge rush and inconvenience caused to the devotees at Puri Srimandir, it has been decided that all the four dwaras of Srimandir will be opened during the Mangala Alati tomorrow (Thursday) in the presence of the Council of Ministers as mentioned in the BJP’s election manifesto earlier. The decision has been taken to facilitate smooth darshan of the devotees.”
The gates of the Puri Jagannath Mandir were opened during the Mangala Alati of the deities this morning. The process for opening all four gates of the Srimandir began on June 11 according to the ruling BJP’s poll promise to open all four gates of the temple for the ease of devotees to enter the famous shrine.
It is worth mentioning here that the gates of the 12th-century temple were closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Later, only the Singhadwara (Lions Gate) was opened for devotees, while the three other doors –Ashwa Dwara (Horse Gate), Vyaghra Dwara (Tiger Gate), and Hasti Dwara (Elephant Gate) remained closed. As a result, there were long queues of devotees outside the temple every day to have darshan of the Holy Trinity.
