Puri: With demand for opening of all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri gaining momentum, the administration appears to be making preparation to ensure smooth entry of devotees into the shrine for darshan of the sibling deities.
According to sources, a decision on opening all the four outer doors of the 12th century shrine is likely to be taken within the next two to three days.
Though no official confirmation has so far been made in this regard, Puri district Collector Samarth Verma is reported to be closely monitoring the arrangements for opening all four gates.
Steps are being taken to allow entry of devotees through south and west gates apart from Singhadwar of the temple, while north gate will be used for exit.
In the first phase, senior district and police officials examining a proposal for allowing the entry of devotees through west gate and barricades are being erected for the purpose. To begin with, the residents of Puri are likely to be allowed through this door by showing identity cards. However, a final decision is yet to be taken in this regard.
The move comes in the wake of growing demand for opening all the four gates of the temple for devotees, who are now allowed to enter the shrine only through Singhadwar, the Lion’s Gate.
A day after BJP leader and Puri MLA Jayanta Sarangi joined hands with several organisations in support of the demand, BJD heavyweight former Minister Maheswar Mohanty on Thursday urged the administration to take immediate steps to open all the four gates of the temple, particularly for residents of Puri.
Mohanty, a former Puri MLA, said the temple is witnessing huge crowd as only the Singhadwar is now kept open for devotees. The situation will improve and devotees can have smooth darshan if all the four gates are opened, he said.
Activists of two social organisations staged a dharna at the Collector’s office on Wednesday. Legislator Sarangi also joined them and urged the administration to allow the entry of visitors through the four temple gates.
It may be noted here that three gates of the temple have remained shut since March 2020 following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Since then common devotees have been entering the temple through the Singhadwara only. However, the devotees face immense problems to have darshan of the deities.
Denizens of Puri had requested to Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and Puri district administration to open the Paschima Dwara, Uttara Dwara, and the Dakshina Dwara of the Activists of Puri Sachetana Nagarika Mancha and Yuva Adhibakta Mancha had astaged a dharna.
