This Shiva Temple in Bhubaneswar fails to attract devotees even on holy Panchuka

When Shiva temples across Odisha saw a huge rush on the occasion of holy Panchuka, there is one temple in the temple city Bhubaneswar that wore a deserted look.

The temple we are discussing here is the Sarbeswar Mahadev temple near Sainik School in Bhubaneswar. While the devotees had already stopped visiting here some years back, the temple wore a deserted look even on Panchuka Brata, thanks to the foul stench emanating from the garbage dumped at the Temporary Transit Centre (TTC) operated by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Asked about the stench, the temple priest said, “This temple is 30 years old. But devotees have gradually reduced their visits here because of this stench. A boundary wall was set up using tin sheets, but it caved in under the immense pressure of piling garbage.”

“This is an old temple. Devotees used to throng here every Monday and during the Kartik month. They even used to serve Prasad here. But after the garbage mountain was erected here, nobody comes here because of this unbearable stench,” said a devotee.

The foul smell from the dumping yard fills the air across Mancheswar, VSS Nagar, Shahid Nagar, Acharya Vihar, Damana, Chandrasekharpur, and Rangamathia areas. Garbage trucks moving around in these areas have further added to the woes of the residents here.

The fear of the spread of unwanted diseases has been haunting the residents. Not just the air, but locals fear that the garbage may slowly contaminate the groundwater in the surrounding areas. Despite repeated demands, the BMC has failed to relocate the dumping yard away from the city, locals rued.