The Jagannath temple in Puri. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, May 28: The Shree Jagannath temple administration has decided to hike fees of entry tickets for special darshan of the Trinity — Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra — with effect from June 1.

A devotee will have to pay Rs 50 instead of Rs 25.

The special darshan is allowed seven times a day, starting from mangal aalati in the early hours and ends at night before the God goes to sleep, according to the tradition and rituals.

During these hours, visitors with tickets can enter the sanctum sanctorum. Barring the seven occasions, devotees are allowed to have a darshan of the deities from a distance known as sahana mela.

Administration sources said the authorities on an average sold around 12,000 tickets everyday. The number goes up during special festivals. An official said the proposal to hike the fee was taken earlier but stalled due to the elections. Devotees elsewhere pay more money in other temples to get a privileged darshan of deities.

However, servitors of the temple have decided to oppose the proposed fee hike. “We have no idea. The decision should have been taken consulting members of all sections, including the servitors. Just ahead of the rath yatra, any decision to increase the ticket fare will certainly be opposed,” said senior servitor Ramakrushan Dasmohapatra.

Dasmohapatra wondered why the temple administration was taking harsh decisions ahead of the car festival. The decisions would cause heartburn among the devotees.

“We have decided to meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik and seek his intervention about the decision not to allow devotees to meet the Lord on the mounts during rath yatra,” he said.

He said there was a conspiracy to defame the government and that the administration’s decision not to allow devotees to climb the cars was never placed before the then law minister, Maheswar Mohanty, who hails from Puri. Mohanty was opposed to such steps.

“Now that Mohanty is no longer the law minister, attempts are being made to implement the decision,” he alleged.