Bhubaneswar, July 12: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today, for the first time, made a surprise visit to inspect the ongoing repair works at the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.

Officials were caught unawares of the visit.

After visiting the temple, the chief minister said: "I came on a surprise visit today to Sri mandir to pray to the Lord for the people of Odisha and also to thank the Lord for the peaceful completion of rath yatra. I also reviewed the repairs going on in the temple." Later, he tweeted: "During Puri visit also reviewed ongoing repair and restoration works in Srimandir; directed for on-time completion."

He has directed officials to complete the Jagmohan repair within four months.

The shrine is constructed with Khandolite stones and has withstood Puri's saline atmosphere consisting of sulphate, chloride nitrates and other dissolved solids for the past 800 years. Neither mortar nor lime nor any other cementing material was used in the temple. After incidents of stones falling from the shrine over the years, the ASI has used stainless beams to support the Jagmohan, the prayer hall of the shrine.

In another tweet, Naveen offered his gratitude for the successful completion of rath yatra and the Asian Athletics Championship. While rath yatra was a smooth affair, the mega sports event was incident free. Naveen was happy that though nearly 1,000 delegates from 44 countries had come to the state to take part in the sports, not a single untoward incident was reported. "The state has got the maximum mileage from the event. It had never before happened here," said a senior official.

Another official said: "The chief minister may take up many more surprise visits in the coming days to give a message that the administration is concerned over various issues."

Shree Jagannath Temple Administration chief P.K. Jena said repair works, which were stopped because of the rath yatra, would soon recommence after the temple management committee chalked out a plan for the pending jobs in a meeting tomorrow.

"According to the chief minister's direction, we will expedite the repair work. We will begin it from July 14 onwards. We aim to complete all the repair works within four months. On a daily basis, it will be done for eight hours. We will urge the ASI to do this," said Jena.

In another development, the state government has sought help from the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, for conservation of the Puri temple.

The institute, a constituent laboratory under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, will provide inputs to the temple conservationist in developing the technology for circulating air within a closed place. "This technology is important, because lack of proper ventilation will affect the longevity of the shrine," said an expert.