BHUBANESWAR: A new clause will be added to the Shri Jagannath Temple Act to prevent flying of drones over the Srimandir and use of mobile phones inside the shrine premises to capture photographs and shoot videos.
This was decided at a meeting of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration on Saturday. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of the district collector to draft the clause, on the day.
Temple chief administrator Arabinda Padhee said a suitable clause will be drafted and sent to the state government for approval and amendment of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act. Flying of drones over the Srimandir, which is a restricted zone, and carrying mobile phones inside the shrine is prohibited over security reasons. However, such incidents are being reported time and again. In January this year, drones were seen flying over the shrine for several minutes twice. Similarly, videos of the sanctum sanctorum have also gone viral this year. “Police cases are being filed but clearly, they are no deterrents in preventing such incidents. Hence, we have decided to add a clause to the temple act and amend it to take severe action against those involved in such activities,” he said.
Earlier, the Law department was considering deployment of police personnel at the four watchtowers surrounding the Srimandir temple complex to keep an eye on drones flying over it.
The meeting also reviewed the ongoing Ratna Bhandar repair and conservation work. Padhee informed that five damaged iron beams between the Bahara and Bhitara Bhandar have been replaced by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) with stainless steel box beams.
Besides, work on replacement of damaged stones in the inner compartment of the Ratna Bhandar and outer walls is underway. The damaged stones are being replaced with the same stone variety. The repair works are likely to be completed by Akshaya Tritiya. The process had commenced in December last year.
It was also decided that a YouTube channel of the Shree Jagannath Temple will be launched on the Odia New Year and organic rice will be used to prepare the Kotha Bhoga.