Rath construction resumes after wage hike assurance to servitors

Puri: After stalling Rath Yatra chariot construction work for around three hours today protesting hike in overtime wages, the Maharana servitors have resumed the work as administration assured them that the wages will be paid timely.

The Maharana servitors said that they complete the construction work withing 58 days after working overtime before Snana Purnima and Netra Utsav. They had written to the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration on June 1 to pay them overtime wages at the earliest for timely completion of the construction of chariots. Since there was no response from administration, the servitors stalled the work today.

Later, the administrator (rituals) Maheswar Panigrahi and thereafter SJTA chief administrator Pradip Jena met the three chief Maharanas of the three chariots and assured them that the overtime wages will be paid timely after which the construction work of Raths has resumed.

"We were assured by the chief administrator that we will get our overtime wages on time. Hence, we have begun the construction work again," said Bijay Mohapatra, chief Maharana of Lord Jagannath's chariot Nandighosha.