Service Of Lord Jagannath Should Top State Plan Agenda: Gajapati Maharaja

Puri: Gajapati Maharaja of Puri Dibyasingh Deb on Saturday said that the Odisha government should give top priority to the service of Lord Jagannath in the state plan agenda.

Talking to mediapersons here, the Gajapati Maharaja, while referring to the chaotic situation in Jagannath Temple on Friday, blamed the state government for the incident.

“The present government in the state should take the blame for all disturbances in the temple. The state government has never considered safeguarding the religion as its responsibility. If such chaotic situation continues to prevail in the temple, who will propagate the sanctity of Jagannath Temple and its rich culture and tradition?” he observed.

Stating that the management of the temple is vested with the state government, the Gajapati Maharaja said that it had the reins in its hand since 1960. “There was no deviation and irregularities in the temple management and rituals during the tenure of the Gajapati Maharaja, who had dedicated himself to the service of the Lords. Now the time has come to muse over the rich tradition of the temple in those days,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, upset over the standoff in the temple, chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Pradipta Mahapatra on Saturday said that the temple administration will probe the incident and take appropriate action against the guilty.

Maintaining that the transfer of Puri SP and withdrawal of cases against some sevayats in connection with the violence that had taken place on October 3 as demanded by the sevayat bodies are not acceptable, he said the temple administration has asked the sevayats not to indulge in such unruly behaviour in future.

“Since the service of the Lords is the responsibility of the sevayats, they should discharge their duty properly. The unruly behaviour of the sevayats would be discussed in a meeting with the Chhattisa Nijog and the Temple Managing Committee soon,” he said.

Asked whether the temple administration was aware of such incident, Mahapatra said “We had no prior information about it.”