Bhubaneswar: Warning of more protests in coming days, servitors of Puri Srimandir today urged the temple administration to withdraw the report on delay in conduct of rituals on April 16, in which action has been recommended against errant servitors.
"The temple administration should immediately withdraw its order because if the servitors are blamed again for wrong reasons then further disruption during the upcoming Rath Yatra cannot be ruled out," president of Daitapati Nijog, Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra said.
Earlier on Friday, Niti Prasashak (temple ritual administrator) in a report to Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) categorically indicated that some servitors including ‘Bhitaraccha’ Bhabani Shankar Mahapatra, Suara-Mahasuar Nijog President Damodar Mahasuar and Madhav Pujapanda of Pujapanda Nijog instigated and prevented others from conducting the rituals of Lord Jagannath on the day Jagamohan was reopened.
Refuting any kind of indiscipline, Damodar Mahasuar said "I only said that until there is no clarification on the High Court's order none other than the Palia servitor appointed to carry out the rituals should go inside the Garbha Gruha. However, the administration has manipulated the issue to blame me."
Similarly, the Pujapanda Nijog has also defended its role in the matter. Harekrushna Pujapanda Samanta, president of Pujapanda Nijog said "The controversy was an intentional attempt by the temple administration because on the day when the Orissa High Court's order was implemented none of the administration's representatives were present on the spot. However, the servitors were later blamed for delay in rituals.
Due to delay in rituals on April 16, huge quantity of 'Mahaprasad' was wasted as it could not be offered to the deities. It snowballed into a controversy after the Suara-Mahasuar servitors demanded compensation for the wasted Mahaprasad and launched protests due to which 'Mahaprasad' was unavailable for four days.