BHUBANESWAR: Expressing concern over the indifferent attitude of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) towards repair of Jagamohana structure of Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today sought emergency intervention of prime minister Narendra Modi.
In a letter, the chief minister said an intervention scheme with stainless steel supporting frames to address the actual structure problems of the Jagamohana was submitted by the superintendent archaeologist, Bhubaneswar for approval of the director general, ASI.
The intervention scheme was based on the recommendation of the technical core committee, constituted by the ASI for overseeing the conservation work of Jagamohana. "Unfortunately, the intervention scheme has been disapproved by the director general, ASI without proposing any alternative solution to avoid any unforeseen failure with sugesstion for further study," Naveen said.
The chief minister said, "we are highly concerned about such indifferent attitude of ASI as any further delay in addressing the problem may lead to a serious situation." Similar problems had occured in the past in the Sun Temple at Konark leading to the collapse of its Jagamohana pillars for which it had to be filled with sand to protect the monument thereby completely preventing entry inside, he said.
Requesting the prime minister for his personal intervention in the matter to save the monument before any unfortunate incident, the chief minister said the director general, ASI should be instructed to reconsider the proposal and come up with a concrete solution as early as possible in the interest of the safety of the shrine. Naveen announced the Odisha government will bear all expenditure for the work.
The chief minister said the condition of the inside of the Jagamohana is alarming due to severe distress/cracking of capitol stone layers atop the pillar head of the four central columns supporting the pyramid roofing structure.
Temporary supports have been provided now to avoid any accident and the devotees are not allowed to enter the Jagamohana premises from safety point of view, thereby depriving them from having a close darshan of the deities. The temporary support systems were further strengthened during the visit of the prime minister to the temple on February 7, he said.