Puri Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar inventory to be made in 3 phases | Bhubaneswar News

Bhubaneswar: The inventorisation of jewellery and other valuables at Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar in Puri will be carried out in 3 phases. First, the ornaments and jewels in the ‘chalanti bhandar’ (active chamber) will be counted, followed by the ‘bahara bhandar’ (outer chamber) and then the ‘bhitar bhandar’ (inner chamber) of the temple’s treasury.A decision on this and several other issues pertaining to the 12th century temple was approved in its managing committee meeting at Puri on Saturday, which was presided over by chairman of the committee Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb.

The draft 11-page standard operating procedure (SOP) for inventory of the Ratna Bhandar, which was prepared by the Shree Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar inventory committee, a high-level panel, was finalised by the managing committee on the day.

The SOP will now be sent to the state govt for final approval and, subsequently, a date will be fixed for the inventorisation work to begin, said temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee.The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) completed the repair and renovation of the Ratna Bhandar, and all valuables were shifted from the temporary strong rooms to the ‘bahara’ and ‘bhitara’ chambers last year. “The decisions on how many authorised persons will be involved in the process and how it will be carried out without disturbing the temple rituals and devotees’ movement for darshan during the process were finalised. After the state govt’s approval, an auspicious day will be finalised for the inventorisation to begin,” Padhee added.Apart from this, the SOP for opening the Shree Gundicha temple for devotees was also finalised. The temple will be reopened for devotees soon. It was decided that a nominal fee of Rs 10 will be charged from devotees to enter the temple, but this will not be applicable to senior citizens over the age of 80, differently-abled people, and children.

There will be free shoe and mobile stands at the temple for the devotees.The members also decided to cancel the MoU with GD Birla Medical Research and Education Foundation to set up Srimandir Adarsha Gurukul, a proposed model school in Puri for the children of servitors of Shree Jagannath temple at Matitota in Puri district. With the MoU not progressing well, it was decided to cancel the existing MoU and sign a new one with another organisation.