Konark temple to undergo endoscopy

Bhubaneswar: After reports of stones falling from the Konark Temple, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) are gearing up to conduct an endoscopy of temple to review its internal structure for safety and maintenance purposes.

The innards of the temple are still unknown and in a bid to assess the structural stability of the stones inside an endoscopy will be conducted by the CBRI. Moreover, a hole will be dug on the ground on which the temple stands to check the strength of its foundation columns and how far beneath it lies.

“We don’t even know that the stones have fallen now or 10-20 years back. We don’t have any records about the same. Hence, we will conduct an endoscopy to know the inside of the structure and to assess the structural stability of the walls and columns,” said CBRI scientist, HL Mittal..

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“To know the stability of the core area of the temple, a bore will be made and the amount of stones laid underneath will be assessed,” said ASI’s monument director, AK Patel.

A forum – Konark Suraksha Manch- has already highlighted the issue of temple’s structural security.

“A laser scanning of the Konark temple was done earlier but the results of the scan is yet to be made public. Now once again another such step is being planned through CBRI. Hence, there is an apprehension among us,” said Ramakrushna Mohanty of Konark Suraksha Manch.

According to sources, the endoscopy report of the temple will be submitted by the CBRI to the ASI by April this year following which pending maintenance will be done.