Puri: Staff of Emar Mutt had a close shave when a portion of its boundary wall along with a house in the adjacent Mati Mandap Sahi caved in on Wednesday. They were sleeping in a room close to the collapsed house.
Locals claimed that the boundary wall was dilapidated and collapsed following a slight drizzle in the morning. The debris blocked the road to the Jagannath Temple causing inconvenience to pilgrims. The municipal authorities had to engage a few tractors to remove these.
In a related development, the civic body asked at least seven families to vacate unsafe houses on the mutt premises within 24 hours. “We will seal all unsafe buildings of the mutt,” enforcement officer Abhimanyu Behera said.