Resentment at Puri Srimandir over supply of dirty drinking water

Tension prevailed at Lord Jagannath temple in Puri on Tuesday evening after the drinking water faucet set up at the Ananda Bazaar on the shrine premises dispensed dirty water.

As per reports, some servitors and devotees noticed dirty water coming out of the drinking water faucet at Ananda Bazaar last evening. The water was so dirty that its colour changed to red. Some servitors collected the water in bottles and showed it to the temple administration demanding to look into the matter as soon as possible.

A complaint was lodged with the Public Health Department (PHD) and subsequently the pipe was repaired and the water problem was solved.

As per the PHD officials, there are two pipes through which drinking water is supplied to the Ananda Bazaar from two tanks. When one of the water tanks was emptied, water was dispensed from another tank through the second pipe. It made the water red with excessive iron particles.

However, the issue has been resolved.

It is pertinent to mention here that Srimandir witnesses a huge crowd in the holy Kartik month. With the increase in the number of devotees, the demand for drinking water also goes up making it of utmost importance for the administration to supply clean drinking water to them.

Apart from the drinking water, the devotees also lamented the absence of a Mahaprasad rate chart at Ananda Bazaar, making them allegedly cough up more for the same.

“Because of the Kartika month, the price of Mahaprasad is a bit high which should not be the case. We are getting confused when different sellers ask for different prices for the same item at the Ananda Bazaar. We can’t decide on which item we should buy. The temple administration should come up with a rate chart,” said Pradeep Sara, a devotee.