Chhatisha Nijog Makes Rules For Entering Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandara

Puri: The Chhatisha Nijog of Shri Jagannath temple on Thursday unanimously decided to open the Ratna Bhandara of the Lords for inspection with specific rules and provisions for 10 persons it named for their entry into it.

Briefing media persons after the meeting, chief administrator of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Pradip Jena said though the Chhatisha Nijog members were in favour of opening of the Ratna Bhandara, the date of its opening could not be decided at the meeting.

He said as per the rules and provisions discussed at the meeting, it was decided that a maximum of 10 persons would be allowed to enter into the Ratna Bhandara. They are the Puri Gajapati king, Pattajoshi Mohapatra, Bhandara Mekap, Tadhau Karana, Deula Karana, two engineers of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), two members of the ASI Core Committee GC Mitra and NC Pal, and NK Mohanty who will represent on behalf of the Orissa High Court.

“It was also decided that each of the 10 members would be thoroughly searched before and after the inspection of the Ratna Bhandara. Each member would be searched twice by the police and once by the Bhandara Mekap. Each member will submit report separately after inspection of the Ratna Bhandara on the same day,” Jena said.

He, however, said the meeting failed to take a decision on videography of the search of the members before and after the inspection of the Ratna Bhandara.

He further said since the Ratna Bhandara will be opened after a long time since 1984, arrangements would be made to pump in more air inside the Ratna Bhandara to ensure that none of the members get suffocated during inspection.