Puri: Paramanik darshan (ticketed darshan) of the sibling deities at Jagannath temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri is likely to be reintroduced after a gap of seven year.
The existing free darshan system will remain unaffected.
After the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) financial sub-committee meeting, temple administrator Ranjan Kumar Das told the media that a standard operating procedure (SOP) will be prepared prior to taking a call on Paramanik darshan, which was stopped in January 2016 following the ban on entry of devotees inside the sanctum sanctorum during the repair of the Jagamohan. “We will consult representatives of all nijogs (association of servitors) and prepare a standard operating procedure before reintroducing the parimanik darshan system,” he said.
The ticketed darshan will be scheduled for a few hours every day. Price of tickets and timing of the special darshan facility will be finalised soon, sources said.
The SJTA used to charge Rs 50 for special or parimanik darshan of the deities inside the sanctum sanctorum. Devotees have since been catching a glimpse of the deities free of cost by standing at ‘bahara’ and ‘bhitara katha’ areas (at a distance from the garbha gruha).
The meeting on Thursday also decided to put up donation boxes at four locations on the shrine premises – Ghanteswari temple near Singhadwara, Paschima Dwara, Uttara Dwara and Nabagraha Kona near Laxmi temple, and install television sets in all rooms of four Bhakta Niwas – Neelachal Niwas, Niladri Niwas, Gundicha Niwas and Purushottam Niwas – for the comfort of visitors.
The SJTA may also restart ‘mahala’ system wherein devotees will be allowed to visit Gundicha temple on days other than Rath Yatra. “There were various mahal systems in the temple like Narendra Sankalpa mahal, Luna Patra mahal, Rosha Darshani mahal and Rohini Kunda, Koili Baikuntha and Gundicha Mandira Darshan mahal. These services were shut down due to various reasons some years back. We are considering starting them again,” Das said.
The regular staff of the temple have been brought under health insurance cover and will be provided an annual medicine reimbursement of Rs 12,000 for more than 24 hours of hospitalisation, he added.
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