Orissa HC Issues Notice To SJTA & Puri Collector On Ramp Facility In Jagannath Temple

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has directed the Jagannath temple administration and Puri collector to take a decision on ramp facility in the temple for the physically challenged people within a month.

The High Court issued the order after hearing a petition filed by Jitendra Kumar Biswal on Saturday. In his petition, Biswal stated that lack of any facility for the disabled to go inside the temple on wheelchair has deprived them of having darshan of the deities.

The petitioner further said he himself is a physically challenged person and makes movement on a wheelchair. He is a devotee of Lord Jagannath but has been deprived of having darshan of the Lord inside the temple as there is no ramp facility for going inside on a wheelchair.

It is the responsibility of the state government and the temple administration to make provision for the physically challenged persons to go inside the temple and offer puja, he added. The Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and the state government were opposite parties in the petition.

After hearing the petition, he High Court directed the SJTA, Shri Jagannath Temple Management Committee and district collector to take a decision on providing the facility of a ramp to go inside the temple as per the law and inform the court within a month.