Bhubaneswar: State-run Air India on Saturday apologised for the false report published on its in-flight magazine-Shubh Yatra, saying that non-vegetarian prasad are sold at the Ananda Bazaar of the Sri Mandir in Puri.
“#AI apologises for the error. Our intention was not to hurt sentiments. #ShubhYatra magazine copies have been removed with immediate effect,” Air India tweeted.
Earlier in the day, members of Jagannath Sena staged demonstration in front of Sri Mandir protesting the report published by Air India. The irate members of the body staged dharna in front of the temple demanding strong action against the officials of the state-run carrier.
Meanwhile, expressing displeasure over the issue, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, said, “I think this is most unfortunate. We will take it up strongly with the appropriate authorities.”
Echoing the same view, Tourism and Culture minister Ashok Panda, said, “The report on the availability of no-vegetarian prasad at Sri Mandir, published in Air India’s magazine-Subha Yatra, is completely wrong. The editorial team of the magazine should have a throw check before publishing the article. This is not acceptable at all.”
“We will definitely write a letter to the Air India authorities in this regard,” Panda added.
Notably, Air India has published an article in its in-flight magazine-Shubh Yatra, which said, “The Jagannath Temple’s kitchen in Puri since its inception has had an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 1,00,000 people every day, round the clock-which means almost 285 varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dished every day. Designed on the age-old sustainability principle, the kitchen minimises wastage while improving functionality. But what makes it truly wonderful is the style of cooking. The cooking is done without any supervision and it is said that the main kitchen area uses the ancient practice of heat transfer and steam cooking to prepare all the prasad at the same time. The kitchen prepares seven meals a day, and each prasad includes 13 items.”