Bhubaneswar: The Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC) will be reconstituted in a week’s time, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan informed on Friday.
The move will pave the way for the long-awaited inventory of the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri following its renovation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
“The managing committee’s approval is essential for the high-level committee to monitor the proceedings. The RBI has recommended the names of two officers in whose presence the inventory of jewellery and other precious items will be done inside the Ratna Bhandar,” he told reporters.
Notably, the 12th-century shrine has been functioning without its governing body for almost a year. The principal decision-making body, an 18-member managing committee tasked with policy decisions, completed its three-year term on September 3, 2024. The titular king of Puri, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, serves as the committee’s permanent chairperson.
In July, the Odisha government had requested the RBI to nominate its experts, who have prior experience in inventory of ornaments at major temples in the country like Somnath temple, to ensure transparency in the inventory process, which was last done in 1978 by a nine-member committee headed by the then governor of Odisha BD Sharma.
During the inventory, each sealed piece of jewellery will be opened and photographed for the digital catalogue. Name, weight and quantity of each piece of jewellery will be recorded and matched with the inventory report of 1978,” Harichandan had earlier said.
The Ratna Bhandar was opened in June after a gap of 46 years to carry out its inventory and restoration, a promise the BJP government had made in the run-up to the elections, amid the controversy about the missing keys to the inner chamber. The items are moved to strong rooms inside the temple premises for the repair work. The inventory will begin once they are moved back to the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar.