Jagannath Temple Reforms: Servitors Oppose Closed-Door Public Hearing

Puri: The public hearing conducted by the three-member committee on the reforms of the Jagannath Temple was vehemently protested by a group of servitors here on Friday.

The slogan-shouting servitors urged the committee to conduct the hearing in public instead of behind closed doors.

“These gentlemen have no moral guts to conduct the hearing in public. This is a grievance meeting as the committee members are conducting a closed-door meeting and calling up people one by one. The servitor community and the Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani have boycotted the hearing which is nothing but a farce,” general secretary of Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani Kasinath Khuntia told mediapersons here.

Amid the uproar outside the office of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), the committee heard the reform proposals from several people, servitors and think-tanks on steps to be taken for the smooth darshan of the deities, release of the Mahaprasd in time, the behaviour of the servitors and sanitation of the temple premises.

Briefing the media after the hearing, member of the committee and former SJTA chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said during the public hearing, people can give their opinion either verbally or through letters. “The committee has sought the opinion from the servitors and the general public. It will examine the opinions and submit its report to the Law Department by the end of this month. The department will submit its report to the Supreme Court in the form of an affidavit,” he added.

The servitors and the think-tanks also protested against the proposal of the committee to introduce ticket system for the devotees for darshan of the Lords.

According to the proposal, not a single devotee would be allowed for the darshan of the Lords after the number of free tickets slated for distribution on the day is exhausted.

In his reaction, senior servitor Binayak Dasmohapatra said introduction of the ticket system in the Jagannath Temple is not acceptable as the nature of rituals of the Lords here is completely different from other temples in the country.

President of the Puri Bar Association Premananda Mohanty said the Association strongly protest the ticket system in the temple. “By introducing the system, the devotees will be deprived of the darshan of the Lords once the free tickets are exhausted,” he said.

However, Mohapatra said there has been no proposal on this matter and the committee has not discussed the issue during the hearing.

Apart from Mohapatra, the two other members of the committee are IG, Soumendra Priyadarshi and member of the Jagannath Temple Managing Committee Mahimohan Tripathy.

After holding the public hearing, the committee, formed by the state government on June 14, will visit the Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu and Kashmir, Golden Temple in Amritsar in Punjab and Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, to study the management of these temples.

Notably, the state government has formed the committee following the directive of the Supreme Court to recommend the reform measures for smooth management of the Jagannath Temple following the allegations of harassment of the devotees by the servitors and irregularities in performing the rituals of the Lords.