Puri: To ensure smooth darshan of the devotees during the New Year, the trial run of the queue system (dhadi darshan) will be held either on December 28 or December 29, informed the Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee.
SJTA chief announced this following a meeting with district administration, district police and senior members of Pratihari Nijog.
However, the body will declare the final date of implementation of dhadi darshan after taking the success of the trial run of the queue system into account.
Talking to the media, Dr Padhee said, “Regarding a queue system (Dhadi Darshan), we held a meeting with senior members of Pratihari Nijog today. We will hold talks with other temple bodies phase by phase to seek their opinions on this issue. We are hopeful of conducting a trial run of the queue system either on December 28 or December 29. With lakhs of devotees expected to throng to Jagannath temple, we will hold a demonstration trial run of the queue system before implementing it on full fledge.”
He further said, “We laid special emphasis on non-disruption daily rituals of sibling deities due to the implementation of queue system. Hundi (donation box) may be shifted from its place due to this new system. However, we need to get approval from the state government as per the Shree Jagannath Act. Besides, we have decided to come up with SOP so that rituals and other traditions of the Lord Jagannath and His siblings will not be disrupted due to the queue system.”
“A committee has been formed under the supervision of the District Collector with members including the SP and Commander. However, servitors of the temple have hailed the decision to implement the queue system for smooth darshan. Bhitara Katha darshan will not be prohibited for this new system”, stated Dr Padhee.
It is learnt that separate arrangements are being made for women, children, the elderly, and differently-abled individuals to ensure a comfortable darshan experience.
Earlier it was decided to conduct a trial run of the new queue system on December 30 and 31.
