Odishatv Bureau

Puri: Even as lakhs of devotees thronged Puri Srimandir to have a glimpse of the Holy Trinity on the auspicious occasion of ‘Nabajouban darshan’ on Tuesday, an unfortunate incident of flower decoration workers climbing atop Jaya-Vijaya idols sparked resentment in different quarters.

The workers were hired by a Delhi-based devotee after he was allowed by Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to decorate the temple with flowers. Such permission was reportedly granted for the first time.

BJP's Puri MLA Jayant Sarangi said, “It has really hurt everybody. I will comment only after getting more details.”

Secretary of Daitapati Nijog, Durga Das Mohapatra said, “Such scenes don't reflect well and efforts should be made to ensure that such incidents do not recur.”


The SJTA chief administrator, on the other hand, stated that "On a devotee’s request that he wanted to decorate the temple, we had allowed it. If such incident has occurred it is unfortunate. We will guide them properly as they will decorate the Gundicha temple also.”

Mohapatra further stated that everybody should appreciate good things as the temple has been decorated with flowers for the first time.

“Unnecessary controversy should not be created and we will caution them in this regard,” Mohapatra added.

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