ASI To Study Weak Beam Inside Jagannath Temple

Bhubaneswar: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will examine a weak beam near the Garuda Stambha inside Nata Mandap of the Jagannath temple.

This was decided at a meeting presided over by the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Pradipta Mohapatra here on Wednesday evening.

As decided, a joint team of ASI core committee and a joint committee of ASI and SJTA will examine the weak structure on July 16.

For the repair work of the weak structure, an expert team of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) from Roorkee in Uttarakhand will arrive in Puri the same day.

Apart from inspection of the weak beam, ASI will put up scaffolding inside the Jagmohan and sanctum sanctorum of the temple a day after the Rath Yatra on July 15 to conduct repair work.

The repair and the conservation works of the sanctum sanctorum will be completed by July 23.

The committee is also scheduled to inspect the repair work of the Jagmohan, which has been completed by the ASI earlier.

The expert team of ASI and CBRI will use load shell machine to ascertain the pressure that the portal frame can withstand. The portal frame has been erected under the weak beam of the Jagmohan to support the structure.

The Director General of ASI has approved the use of the load shell machine for inspection of the portal frame.

The meeting decided that the ASI would construct three beams under the joint areas of the Nata Mandap and Jagmohan the work of which will be completed by July 24.