Bhubaneswar: The core committee of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) visited the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha’s Puri district to review the status of sand evacuation from ‘garbhagriha’ (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple on Saturday.
The members of the core committee, headed by Janhwij Sharma, Additional Director General (Conservation and World Heritage), ASI studied the condition of the 13th century temple from different angles for about 6 hours. They were accompanied by a technical team also.
Later, the members of core committee, the technical team and local officials held a meeting on the temple premises. They discussed the finer aspects of the stability of the temple structure before removing the sand, sources said.
A 6-member team of the ASI had also visited the temple, known as Black Pagida, to review the status of sand evacuation on September 18.
More than two years after taking the decision to remove sand from inside the Sun Temple, the ASI performed the groundbreaking ceremony on September 8, 2022.
The ASI had accepted a proposal to remove sand from inside the Konark Temple, Odisha’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, at a national conference on ‘Conservation of Sun Temple’ attended by then Union Culture Minister in February 2020.
The country’s premier archaeological conservation body targets to clear the sand entirely from inside the temple in 3 years. It has awarded the tender to BDR Construction Pvt Ltd to carry out the work.
