PURI/BHUBANESWAR: Senior daitapati of Sri Jagannath Temple Premananda Dasmahapatra passed away here on Sunday. He was in home quarantine after being discharged from a Covid hospital in Bhubaneswar a few days back.
He breathed his last at a private hospital. Dasmahapatra was a former member of the temple managing body. He was also secretary of Daita Nijog and Badagrahi of Debadalana - Goddess Subhadra’s chariot.
The death of the senior servitor has triggered panic in the pilgrim town as many sevayats have already succumbed to the virus in the last few weeks as Puri continues to witness a significant spike in Covid caseload.
Rabindranath Pratihari, another senior servitor of Srimandir, had passed away last week. He was a member of temple management body and had published a number of books on Jagannath cult. Similarly, servitors like Janardan Mahasuar of Suar nijog and Baldev Simhari also died due to the Covid-19 infection.
Keeping in view the death of sevayats, member of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Ramachandra Dasmahapatra has urged the State Government and district administration to set up a special Covid hospital for servitors and provide 24-hours healthcare facility to them.
In fact, the increasing number of cases in Puri district has become a matter of concern for the Government. The district reported 292 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 8,205 of which 1,718 are active cases and 6,452 are recoveries. With 80,385 tests so far, the cumulative case positivity rate of the district stands at 10.20 per cent.
The district has also reported 35 deaths so far. Keeping the situation in view, the district administration has declared at least 25 localities as containment zones.