Officials to wear only ‘Gamuchha’ during Ratna Bhandar inspection

Puri:  All guidelines laid out in the standard operating procedure (SOP) including videography of the entire proceedings will be strictly followed while the officials will have to wear only ‘Gamuchha (traditional towel)’ supplied by the temple authorities during inspection of Puri Srimandir’s Ratna Bhandar, informed Shri Jagannath Temple Administration’s (SJTA) chief administrator Pradeep Jena today.

Adequate measures including frisking & scanning of officials while moving in and out of the Ratna Bhandar will be done so that any sort of metal and electronic equipment does not enter the chamber, Jena said.

“The entire inspection proceedings will be videographed and the visuals shall be preserved by the temple administration for future purposes. Condition of walls, ceiling will be inspected and caution will be exercised so that nothing else is touched or recorded. Police personnel & snake helpline members will be present to ensure safety,” Jena said.

After the state government’s nod to open the Ratna Bhandar, the Chhatisa Nijog of the Srimandir will be meeting today to discuss the time and date of inspection and also appoint the officials who will carry out the inspection.

Meanwhile, the temple management committee on Wednesday approved the annual budget of nearly Rs 169. 5 crore for 2018-19.

This year, the budget has allocated Rs 5 crore for housing facilities for servitors and another Rs 5 crore for Srimandir Gurukulam.

Similarly, for research, propagation and spread of Jagannath culture, the temple management has also decided to allocate Rs 50 lakhs.

“We have given importance to various procedural aspects in the budget and one of them is concurrent audit and monthly income and expenditure accounting. Mercantile accounting method comprising double entry book keeping and accrual based accounting which is the standard system prevalent nowadays will be followed for better classification of factors like capital and revenue,” Jena said.

Jena further said that the temple administration will also mobilise donations of nearly Rs 20 to 25 crores for specific purposes in the temple this year.

Noting that the temple is likely to have a little surplus this year, Jena said a realistic budget has been presented this time and any sort of extra recommendations to seek grant-in-aid from the government have been left out.

Similarly some other heads where funds have been allocated in this year’s budget are Rs 1.5 core for ensuring better availability of ‘Kanika’ or prasad for  devotees and Rs 20 lakh for infrastructure development for hassle free darshan by Divyangs.

Later in the day, it was decided in the Chhatisa Nijog meeting that only 10 persons will be allowed to enter the Ratna Bhandar while the time and date of inspection will be decided later.

After the meeting, SJTA Chief Pradeep Jena informed that the 10-member team will be frisked & scanned twice by police and once by Bhandar Mekap while moving in and out of the Ratna Bhandar and the team has to provide the report on the same day of inspection.

Oxygen masks will be provided to the team as the Ratna Bhandar will be opened after a gap of many years. However, no decision has been taken on the videography of the inspection, he added.