PURI: The Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee on Friday discussed a wide range of measures covering welfare of servitors and their families while presenting fresh plans to improve revenue for the shrine through donations.
Chaired by Puri Maharaja Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, the apex panel discussed arrangements being chalked out with banks so that devotees are able to donate to the temple through ATMs operating in Puri. The modalities would require technical support.
A plan is also afoot to encourage devotees to donate gold under the Subarna Alankar Dan Yojana so that another set of ornaments for the deities could be prepared.
The managing committee also approved a `104 crore surplus budget for the 2025-26 fiscal. It allocated sops for retired servitors and their families. The volume of funds in the servitor welfare fund has been increased considerably. The servitor pension would be raised from `4,000 to `5,000 per month, marriage assistance to daughters of servitors increased from `50,000 to `1 lakh and assistance for thread ceremony raised from `20,000 to `50,000, stated a press release by the chief administrator of the temple.
It was also informed that the inventory of ornaments in Bhitar Ratna Bhandar would be carried out as soon as the government issues a standard operating procedure (SOP). The tally of the fresh inventory would be made and compared with that of the 1978 inventory.
The ornaments and entire jewellery would be recorded in a digital format. The managing committee insisted on completing the inventory before the Akshyaya Tritiya.
It was also decided that the Gundicha temple gate, which was out of bounds for devotees for a long time, will be opened soon for devotees.
The members also discussed darshan of deities in the queue system in Natamandap, entry of PwD devotees and establishment of Gurukul-type education for servitors’ wards. Facilitating entry of residents into the temple for darshan and measures to stop ISKCON-sponsored untimely Rath Yatra were also discussed.
Meanwhile, the temple administration informed that discussions at the higher level of the government are underway to bring back 18 tonne of silver ingots into the temple account. The ingots were recovered from Emar Mutt in 2011 and are now under police custody as a litigation is pending before the court.
Chief administrator of the temple Arabinda Padhee conducted the proceedings with almost all members of the managing committee and fourteen sub-committees in participation, the press release stated.