BHUBANESWAR: In a big step towards making Srimandir accessible for persons with disabilities (PwDs), the Shree Jagannath temple management has proposed to make special provisions for facilitating entry to the sanctum sanctorum for the visually impaired and physically challenged devotees.
According to the proposal, the PwD devotees will be carried to the sanctum sanctorum by volunteers on their back just like it is done by ‘pithoos’ at Amarnath and Vaishno Devi temples. Around 30 devotees will be taken inside the temple through the existing ramp at the north gate (Uttara Dwara) of the shrine every day.
They will have to book their visit to the temple through a dedicated portal and produce a 100 per cent disability certificate before entry. They can be accompanied by one family member.At the Uttara Dwara, a reception centre with a bathroom has been proposed to be set up where the devotees can wait for their turn.
“The sevayats have agreed that such devotees can be provided a special darshan from 2 pm to 4 pm after the Bhoga mandapa rituals are over and when entry of general devotees is closed,” said temple administrator AK Jena.
From the Uttara Dwara, they will be carried to Jay Bijaya Dwara through Ghanti Dwara for ‘darshan’ and brought back through the same route. “For this purpose, the Suara and Maha Suara servitors can be roped in as they have experience of carrying head loads of bhoga in the temple,” Jena said.A devotee can re-book a visit to the temple only after two months of the first visit, he added.
Owing to demands from differently-abled devotees and rights activists who want to have darshan of the Holy Trinity atop the ‘ratnasimhasana’, the temple administration had recently asked the sevayat members of the managing committee to come up with a proposal in this regard. Accordingly, a five-member sevayat panel discussed with the temple administration in presence of some social workers on Friday.
Temple servitor and member of managing committee Madhav Mohapatra said the proposal is at a preliminary stage and will be discussed again with state-level PwD leaders and Chhattisa Nijog before being placed in the managing committee meeting.
Earlier, Mukti Mandapa of the shrine had come out in support of allowing divyangs into the temple. A few months back, secretary of Sahaya - the Red Cross Centre for Special Children - Mrinalini Padhi had urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allow wheelchair-bound devotees to witness the Trinity on ‘ratnasimhasana’ and offer prayers. Padhi had sought the opinion of Mukti Mandapa, Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, Chattisha Nijog, among others, on the issue.The Orissa High Court is also adjudicating PILs filed in this regard.