BHUBANESWAR: With Ratna Bhandar repair work not progressing as expected due to daily rituals and heavy tourist inflow, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to extend the timeline for completion of work by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
In December last year, the ASI had said that the Ratna Bhandar repair work would be completed within three months (by March this year) provided it is given five to six hours per day to work on the structure.
However, due to several rituals and heavy devotees’ inflow, the national conservation agency has not been getting adequate time every day to work. Besides, work had to be stopped on many occasions due to specific rituals or festivities.
“Hence, we have decided to give some more time to the ASI to complete the work. Because this is an important monument and quality has to be maintained as far as structural renovation is concerned,” said Puri collector Siddharth Shankar Swain after a meeting over the issue on Tuesday.