Cuttack, Aug. 8: The Shri Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri has informed Orissa High Court that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is yet to devise "permanent intervention" to prevent falling of stones from the Jagmohan and declare it safe.

In an affidavit, the administration said devotees were not being allowed to enter the Jagmohan, the prayer hall adjacent to the sanctum sanctorum of Jagannath temple, for " darshan of the deities in view of the balance repair work that is to be carried out by the ASI".

The issue of Jagmohan's protection reached the high court after Cuttack resident Abhisek Das filed a PIL alleging the Puri Jagannath temple structure was in danger "due to inaction" of the state government and the Centre.

On July 20, the administration sent a request letter to the ASI director-general "to take expeditious steps for finalising the permanent intervention and complete the conservation work of Jagmohan satisfactorily and declare it safe for the devotees within a period of two months", assistant administrator Saroj Kumar Ray said in the affidavit.

In the affidavit, Ray also said that as the "precautionary measure", the ASI had set up one tubular support system near the northwest column to support the column capital (pillar head) and two square GI pipes on the eastern side for temporary support to the stone beams. The GI pipes are made of hot rolled coils of specified thickness and fully galvanised.

On July 21, the high court directed the ASI to file an affidavit "stating as to what steps are being taken to preserve the temple and in how much time the work would be completed". The administration was also asked to file an affidavit. The court was hearing the PIL seeking the court's intervention for effective repair.

But when the PIL came up on August 5, no affidavit was filed by the ASI. The division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi posted the matter to August 17 while directing the ASI to file the affidavit by then.

Giving an update in the affidavit submitted on that day, the administration further said that after the work commenced on July 9, the ASI had done chemical cleaning of all the seven distressed pockets inside the Jagmohan.

Besides, the cracked portions of the other three pillars have also been repaired by core drilling and pinning by stainless steel rods. They have also been brought to regular triangular shape by resetting with the required stones.

"The ASI has also set up square GI pipes on both the northern and southern sides bellow the cracked stone beams so as to temporarily support them till permanent interventions are done to strengthen the beams," Ray said in his affidavit.

Though Jagmohan's dilapidated condition had come to notice in 2008 and an expert committee proposed removal of lime plaster for undertaking conservation, the de-plastering was not undertaken inside it till January this year.

After the plasters, which had decayed inside the sloped walls of the prayer hall, were taken off, cracks in the eight beams and four columns posing threat to the structure came to light.