Puri Jagannath Temple Plunges Into Darkness For 20 Minutes Amid Power Outage

Puri: A sudden power outage caused 20 minutes of blackout at Shree Jagannath Temple of Odisha’s Puri on Wednesday evening.

According to sources, the power outage took place around 9 pm when the main temple was closed for Banakaligi Niti and Anasara Pindi, the wood replacement work, and devotees were having darshan of other deities on the shrine premises.

To the surprise of locals, the power backup system of the temple also did not work even as the temple administration made all attempts to switch it on. Devotees were seen taking the help of earthen diyas to navigate through the darkness near Singhadwara, Baisi Pahacha and other areas of the temple.

Some areas of the temple were later lighted up with the help of mini inverters, eyewitnesses told the media.

As the temple sees many visitors from outside the state and abroad, the incident has raised question on administration’s failure to provide uninterrupted power supply to the 12th-century shrine.