BHUBANESWAR: The Ratna Bhandar of Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri had more than 120 kg of gold and 221 kg silver 40 years back when an inventory of the valuables within the storehouse was made.
Law Minister Pratap Jena informed this in the Assembly on Thursday in a written reply to a question from Dilip Ray.
According to the inventory prepared in 1978 when the Ratna Bhandar was opened last time, it had more than 12,831 ‘bhari’ of gold and 22,153 ‘bhari’ silver (One bhari equals 11.66 grams). However, the Government does not have any information about the value of the items in the storehouse.
The Minister said a complete inventory of valuables inside the Ratna Bhandar was prepared by the temple administration between May13 and 23, 1978. The storehouse had 12,831 grams of gold ornaments with expensive stones and other valuables of the metal. Similarly, 22153 grams of silver with expensive stones, silver utensils and other valuables were found.
However, 14 gold and silver items could not be weighed during the inventory making process for different reasons. During the process, value of the items were not assessed.
The Minister said as the State Government does not have any information about the gold and silver ornaments and other valuables kept inside the Ratna Bhandar from 1978 to 2018 from donations and ‘pranamis’ offered by the devotees, the value of items inside the storehouse is likely to have gone up.