Mismanagement inconveniences devotees in Puri Jagannath Temple

Puri, March 18 : Mismanagement and poor arrangements by the Jagannath Temple administration in Odisha’s Puri put thousands of pilgrims in difficulty during the Raj Rajeshwar Sunavesh of Lord Jagannath and his siblings on Friday. . On the occasion of Dola Purnima, thousands of pilgrims thronged Puri to have darshan of Raj Rajeshwar Sunavesh of Lord Jagannath and his siblings after a gap of two years as the temple was closed to the devotees for almost two years due to the Covid pandemic. On Friday a large number of devotees were seen standing in queue in front of Srimandir since early morning. Unfortunately for some reason darshan was closed and devotees were not allowed into the temple. The queue got longer and longer stretching upto 1.5 km. There was no Sun shed and no drinking water alongside the queue. Residents said the temple should have anticipated the rush as the Sunavesh on Dola Purnima draws more devotees and the devotees got this opport ty after two years to see the golden attire of the trinity. They said the temple administration should have streamlined the nites and rituals and made arrangements to cool the road, raise a sun shed over the queue and provide drinking water . Devotees after standing in queue under the scorching sun for hours waiting for their turn were frustrated as the darshan was closed and they were not allowed in. Many elderly and weak people fell unconscious. Many locals and servitors rushed them to the district headquarter hospital. There was a mad rush towards the temple gate breaking the barricades. A few policemen at the post were unable to control the rush. After one hour police and temple security brought the situation under control. As prescribed, servitors performed the daily nitee with observance of Mangal arati, Abakas, Mailum, Rosa homa, Surya Puja and offered Gopal bhog. Thereafter a complex set of rituals were observed. Huge gold ornaments were drawn from the temple treasury and three sets of servitors dressed the deities in gold attire called “Rajrajeswar Vesha”. After darshan was over, ornaments were again deposited in the temple treasury. XC DP SSP