PURI: Controversy refuses to spare Sri Jagannath Temple which has been in the centre of attention over the missing keys of Ratna Bhandar. While outrage continues over mismanagement of the Lord’s wealth, a senior officer of the Election Commission of India (ECI) was allegedly heckled by servitors for refusing to meet their demand for donation.
According sources, R K Srivastav, an officer of the Election Commission of India (ECI), had come to Puri to visit Sri Jagannath Temple. During his visit to Puri temple, some servitors allegedly misbehaved with him and demanded donation.
Though the officer did not file any complaint with the police or temple office, he informed the matter to the State Election Officer and the Chief Minister’s Office, sources said. The District Collector then reportedly met Srivastav and apologised for the incident, sources added.
An internal inquiry is underway to identify the servitors. Contacted, Simhadwar police said no complaint has been filed in this regard. The officers, who accompanied Srivastav, are also silent on the issue.
The incident has brought to the fore the harassment faced by devotees and put the district administration in a tight spot as the Supreme Court recently ordered that neither servitors nor their associations can collect donation from pilgrims.
Meanwhile, the miraculous surfacing of the what is believed to be the “duplicate” key set has set off speculation that original keys have been missing well before 1985 when the last record was maintained.
Experts say that if the tag on the sealed envelope “Secret Bhitar Ratna Bhandar duplicate keys” and signed by the ADM is to be believed, it gives credence to the fact that original key has been missing much before 1985 as duplicate keys were used to open Bhitar Ratna Bhandar and then deposited in the record room instead of District Treasury. This may have been done to suppress the fact that the original key was missing.
A former treasury officer on condition of anonymity said that when there was need to lock a sensitive room like Ratna Bhandar, costly locks of renowned companies were purchased which provides a number of extra keys. When one set of keys is used, extra sets should have been damaged in the presence of officers concerned or all the keys should have been kept in the treasury strong room maintaining the necessary records. “It seems there was no record of movement of the key from treasury to temple and back since 1978,” the retired treasury officer said.