BHUBANESWAR/PURI: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday demanded the opening of all four gates of Shri Jagannath Temple before the holy month of Kartik and an audit of the shrine’s Ratna Bhandar. Besides, the land of farmers acquired for Vedanta University by the administration be returned, it demanded.
Congress workers led by OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak took out a protest march from Saradha Bali to the office of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on the Grand Road in Puri to press for the demands. The party leaders submitted a memorandum to SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Das addressed to Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal in this regard.
Pattanayak said all four gates of the Puri temple should be re-opened for devotees before the holy Odia month of Kartik which begins on October 29. “Puri is one of the four dhams in India and lakhs of devotees from across the globe come here for a darshan of Lord Jagannath. However, they face a lot of problems while visiting the temple.
A devotee died recently while standing in queue to visit the temple, which brought a bad name to the state,” he added.SJTA chief administrator Ranjan Kumar Das said the memorandum will be forwarded to the governor.