PURI: A day after a scuffle broke out between personnel of two security wings of Srimandir, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Monday convened a high-level meeting to take stock of the situation.
Chief administrator Arabinda Padhee, temple officials, heads of the Srimandir Surakshya Bahini and Jagannath Temple Police (JTP) besides some senior servitors attended the meeting.
Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Padhee termed the incident as unfortunate. The district police would investigate the incident while the temple administration will also conduct an internal probe.
He said measures would be taken to prevent such incidents in future. A standard operating procedure (SOP) has been drafted to mitigate such issues. It would be sent to the Law department for approval.
Puri collector Dibyajyoti Parida and SP Prateek Singh also attended the meeting.
On Sunday, the head of JTP was allegedly assaulted by an Odisha Police personnel over entry of devotees, leading to temporary closure of the Jai Bijay Dwar of Srimandir. The incident followed a scuffle between police personnel stationed at Shree Jagannath Temple, known as the Srimandir Surakshya Bahini, and the JTP, the traditional security force of the 12th century shrine.
The altercation reportedly broke out at Satapahacha over regulation of queue darshan.