Odisha BJP Delegation Meets Puri Gajapati Over Demand To Open Ratna Bhandar Of Jagannath Temple

Bhubaneswar: A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday and discussed the issue relating to delay by the Odisha government in opening the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple.

The delegation, including former BJP state unit president Samir Mohanty, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra and party leader Pitambar Acharya, called on the Puri King at his residence in Sahid Nagar area of Odisha capital.

Stating that lakhs of devotees are worked over the safety or the Ratna Bhandar and the valuables stored in the treasury of the 12th century shrine, Mohanty said BJP wants the state government and Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to clear the air on the issue.

As the Puri King is the President of the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee, the party submitted a memorandum urging him to impress upon the state government to take immediate steps to open the Ratna Bhandar and do complete inventory.

As the opposition BJP and Congress have intensified their demand for reopening of the Ratna Bhandar and inventory, Mohanty had moved the Orissa High Court now seeking its direction to the state government to take necessary steps in this direction.

The High Court recently directed the government to form a high-level committee for supervising the inventory of the valuables kept in the Ratna Bhandar.

The court also directed the government to form the committee within a period of 60 days from the date when the Temple Managing Committee approaches them.

Notably, SJTA Chief Administrator Ranjan Dash has reportedly said that the Ratna Bhandar is safe and no one should worry about it.

On the status of the special committee that the court has ordered, he the matter would be discussed in the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee meeting and the High Court would be duly informed about the issue

Mohanty said that despite the High Court’s order, the state government is yet to form the high-level committee for opening the Ratna Bhandar of the 12^th century shrine.