Holy Trinity On Sojourn, ASI Begins Inspection Of Jagannath Temple

Puri: With the Trinity on a nine-day sojourn to the Gundicha temple in Puri, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began inspection of the garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum) of the Jagannath temple on Saturday.

The inspection began in the presence of senior ASI officials, members of the ASI Technical Core Committee, experts of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and the chief engineer of the state Works department.

Talking to mediapersons, ASI superintending engineer Arun Mallick said the ASI technical Core Committee members and engineers of the state Public Works Department (PWD) will jointly inspect the sanctum sanctorum. The repair work will be taken up after inspection by the joint team.

Talking about leakage of water from the room of the sanctum sanctorum, he said the ASI team has not found any trace of water on the wall inside it.

As informed by Dr NC Pal, member of the ASI Technical Core Committee, priority would be given to repair of the sanctum sanctorum.

“As regards complaints from sevayats about leakage of water from the sanctum sanctorum roof after Cyclone Fani, we assume there are 2-3 sources of leakage which we will thoroughly examine and give appropriate treatment so that there is no leakage in future,” Pal said.

He further said that after completion of repair of the sanctum sanctorum, we will simultaneously take up repair of the Jagmohan, Nata Mandap and Bhoga Mandap where we will take up chemical cleaning and replacement of some damaged stones from the floor. “Besides, some repair work is also required for the temple kitchen,” Pal said.