Puri: Youth Congress activists staged a demonstration in Puri on Tuesday demanding the reopening of all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in the pilgrim town for the convenience of devotees.
Raising slogans in support of their demand, a large number of activists of Youth Congress from the Puri district unit staged the protest at the southern gate of the 12th century shrine.
As the demonstrators attempted to enter the temple through the southern gate, a minor scuffle broke out between them and the police personnel deployed at the site.
The protesters said that the devotees have been facing a lot of hardship while visiting the shrine for darshan as they have to enter only through the Lion’s gate. The devotees have to wait for hours in queues due to huge crowd, they claimed.
Stating that the administration has not been allowing devotees into the temple through all the four gates for more than two years, the protesters said no definite timeline has been specified about the completion of the Srimandir Parikrama Project.
The activists said the agitation will be intensified if the administration fails to take immediate steps to open all the four temple gates.
It may be noted here that prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, devotees were allowed to enter the temple through all four gates. During the pandemic, the three doors of the temple were shut for the devotees. But even long after the pandemic, devotees were allowed to the shrine through the Lion’s Gate only, resulting in a huge rush at the gate.
There has been a growing demand for opening the other three gates. Bowing to the pressure from many quarters, the western gate of the temple was opened only for the residents of Puri in July.
