Puri: The Paschima Dwara (West Gate) of Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri will reopen on Monday keeping in view the rush of devotees at the temple for the darshan of the Holy Trinity. However, only local residents of Puri will be allowed to enter the temple through the Paschima Dwara after showing their identity proof.
Talking to the media, Puri district Collector Samarth Verma said, the West Gate of Srimandir reopens for the residents of Puri from today. “The residents of the Holy City can enter the 12th-century shrine through the West Gate by producing their identity proof,” said the Collector.
It is worth mentioning here that the devotees, locals, and several people’s representatives had urged the state government and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to reopen all four gates of Srimandir to ensure smooth darshan of the deities.
Earlier, the devotees were allowed to enter and exit Srimandir through its four gates. A few years ago, the SJTA laid a set of new guidelines and asked the devotees to enter the shrine only through the Simgha Dwara (Lions’ Gate). The three other gates of the temple were virtually closed to the people causing great inconveniences for the devotees as they are being forced to wait in long queues to visit the shrine.
Meanwhile, Puri Sub-Collector Bhabataran Sahu said that work on the two other gates of Puri Srimandir is underway and once the work is completed, they will take a decision on reopening them too.
