Narendra pokhari in Puri does not have sufficient water for chapa khela. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, March 20: The Lords of Puri may be deprived of their annual water sport called chapa khela during the summer festival of Chandan yatra.

The festival is only a month away. Despite the mercury soaring high, the deities of the Jagannath temple might miss making rounds of the Narendra pokhari (tank) in their traditional water boat since its cleaning and restoration project is running way behind schedule.

Last year, the state government had allotted over Rs 3 crore for the restoration of the 12th century tank. The tank shares a common history with the Jagannath temple and serves as the venue for the water sport during the month-long Chandan yatra when, twice a day, representative deity of Lord Jagannath — Madan Mohana — along with consorts Bhudevi and Sridevi, take rounds of the tank in summer.

At present, the tank is full of sludge deposits and garbage. The responsibility of restoring the tank was given to the drainage division of Bhubaneswar, which is under the state water resources department.

The team working on this pumped out the water of the tank to clean the sludge from the floor. But the work has extended to almost one-and-a-half years now and there has been little progress.

“It is a case of utter neglect and irresponsible management. Chandan yatra is inching closer and the cleaning has not even begun properly. It will hurt our sentiments immensely if the chapa khela of our deities is cancelled due to lack of interest of the authorities concerned,” said Surya Narayan Rathshrama, a Puri based Jagannath culture expert.

The water that remains in the tank is hardly two or three feet deep and the base of the tank is visible in several places. Garbage has also piled up at some places. The tank also requires repairs because cracks have appeared in several parts and the situation is risky for movement of crowds. The Chandan yatra attracts a few thousand devotees to the tank every year.

Local residents today staged a demonstration to attract the attention of authorities.

“We will ensure that the work is completed before the festival. The progress of work will be looked into by the respective departments involved,” said Puri collector Dhiren Patnaik.

The officials of the drainage division could not be contacted.