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Puri: The family members of servitors and devotees will not be allowed the privilege to climb above the sacred bathing altar during the Snana Purnima ritual, Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee ruled on Tuesday after elaborate discussions in this connection.
While, Puri seer Shankaracharya will be allowed to have darshan of deities and perform his rituals atop the Mandap during upcoming Snana Yatra as per the protocol, the committee said.
The statement came after a consensus could not be reached on whether family members or devotees be allowed to climb the chariots and Snana Mandap this year Rath Yatra during a meeting here on Monday with servitors of Chhatisa Nijog making it clear that they will also not allow aides of Shankaracharya to follow him to the altar during Snana Purnima.
Discussions on irregularities of corpus funds were also held during the meeting. Temple's newly appointed chief administrator Pradeep Jena stated that there was no irregularities in the corpus funds. Accounts committee of the temple will review all the funds and submit the detailed report to law department, he said.
Earlier, BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra had alleged that around a hundred out of Rs 322 crore of the temple corpus fund has been misappropriated as indicated by a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India back on December 2015.
It is pertinent to note here that in 2014, the temple administration barred the entourage of Shankarachrya's disciples to the chariots during Rath Yatra leading the seer fuming and later boycott the age old tradition which led to massive public outcry.
