The thriller over Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar has deepened because the Odisha authorities has “no plan” to reopen the interior chamber of the treasury of the Twelfth-century shrine in Puri and refused to share details about the temple’s belongings with an RTI activist, devotees claimed on Monday (August 29).

Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) beneath the state legislation division, didn’t reply to the queries of Balangir-based RTI activist Hemant Panda.

The State Data Fee has not too long ago imposed a fantastic on the SJTA’s officer S Okay Chatterjee for not sharing data within the public curiosity.

Asserting that the SJTA can not determine to open the interior chamber of the Ratna Bhandar, temple administrator (growth) Ajay Kumar Jena stated the problem will likely be positioned earlier than the Sri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee in its subsequent assembly.

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The SJTA will inform the managing committee’s determination to the federal government and solely then can the treasury will be opened, he stated. It appeared that water seeps by means of cracks within the wall of the shop, temple’s Ratna Bhandar in-charge and servitor Niranjan Mekap stated, including that the treasury “have to be opened instantly and repaired”.

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Chief of Opposition within the state meeting Jaynarayan Mishra alleged that the state authorities has “by no means made any try to open the interior chamber of the treasury regardless that it has gold, diamond jewelry, treasured stones and different ornaments.

It remained closed for 44 years even because the Sri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 has a provision of endeavor inspection of the Ratna Bhandar each three years, the BJP chief stated. The ruling BJD leaders stay tight-lipped over the problem.

Regulation Minister Jagannath Saraka had instructed the Meeting on July 16 that if any proposal is obtained to open the Ratna Bhandar, the state authorities will take crucial steps after inspecting completely different features.

Congress and BJP legislators within the Home had demanded an instantaneous stock of things saved within the treasury.

Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the titular king of Puri, who can also be the chairman of the Temple Managing Committee, has sought to open the treasury to clear doubts of devotees over the presence of belongings.

The Archaeological Survey of India, which takes care of the upkeep of Odisha’s hottest spiritual web site, had not too long ago urged the state authorities to open the Ratna Bhandar for the bodily inspection of the construction.

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The Ratna Bhandar is positioned within the basement of the temple, which ought to be inspected bodily. The partitions of the treasury could also be broken because of the climatic affect on the construction. It have to be repaired instantly, a senior ASI official stated.

The temple has a minimum of two chambers of its treasury. The Bahar Bhandar (outer chamber) shops ornaments utilized by the deities each day, whereas many items of jewelry are stored within the interior chamber of the treasury, in accordance with temple sources.

An try was made to open the interior chamber of Ratna Bhandar in April 2018 following a directive of the Orissa Excessive Court docket, nevertheless it was not profitable as keys weren’t discovered at the moment. A crew, comprising ASI officers, clergymen and others, then carried out an inspection from outdoors.

Within the wake of a statewide hue and cry, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had constituted a judicial fee headed by retired Justice Raghubir Das to probe into the lacking key problem.

Although the fee has submitted its report back to the state authorities, we’re unable to grasp why the findings of the panel weren’t tabled within the meeting up to now, senior Congress legislator Santosh Singh Saluja stated. The fee had in November 2018 submitted its 324-page report back to the Odisha authorities.

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The opposition MLA stated the “lacking of the Ratna Bhandar keys, and never revealing the judicial panel report by the federal government turns into a mystique”.

Former temple administrator Rabindra Narayan Mishra, who was a part of the crew that inspected the interior chamber of the treasury in 1978, stated, the Ratna Bhandar is split into two elements. Whereas the outer chamber shops the ornaments and valuables for normal use of the deities, most treasured jewelry gadgets are stored within the interior chamber.

I had seen enormous portions of gold, diamond and ornaments wrapped in garments and stored in picket containers, he stated.

Earlier, the Ratna Bhandar was opened in 1803 and 1926, Mishra stated. All the valuable gadgets have been listed and weighed correctly over the past inspection, he stated, including that the valuation of the asset couldn’t be ascertained as goldsmiths from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat weren’t in a position to calculate the precise worth of the ornaments at the moment.

I feel it’s excessive time to do a list of the ornaments saved within the Ratna Bhandar and permit the ASI to examine the bodily construction of the temple, he stated.

In 2021, then legislation minister Pratap Jena knowledgeable the Home that in accordance with the 1978 stock, the Ratna Bhandar had 12,831 bhari of gold and 22,153 bhari of silver (one bhari is the same as 11.66 grams).

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The treasury additionally had 12,831 gram of gold ornaments with treasured stones and different valuables in retailer, he had stated.

As a lot as 22,153 gram of silver with costly stones, silver utensils and different valuables have been discovered there, Jena talked about, including that on account of numerous causes, 14 gold and silver gadgets couldn’t be weighed in the course of the stock course of.

(With inputs from companies)