Bhubaneswar, Oct. 27: Daily rituals at the 11th Century Lingaraj temple here were delayed by more than 10 hours today because of an ongoing scuffle between two groups of pujapandas (servitors) over the right to offer dala bhog (uncooked food) to the deity.

The servitors’ groups have been fighting for their rights to offer the dala bhog, which had led to disruption of rituals in the temple a number of times in the recent past. Rituals in the temple were delayed by several hours on September 29 and October 9.

On October 11, a group of servitors had given an ultimatum to the temple administration threatening to boycott the rituals if they were not given the exclusive right to offer the dala bhog to the lord by October 27.

“The right to offer dala bhog is exclusively ours. We had also given memoranda to the state law minister and secretary in this regard. But, they failed to solve the matter. So, we decided not to take part in daily rituals today,” said the secretary of Pujapanda Sevayat Samiti, Sachikant Pujapanda. He also threatened to continue their non-cooperation if the temple administration failed to fulfil their demand.

However, the rituals resumed in the evening following the intervention of the temple administration. The temple administration convened a meeting of all the groups of servitors to solve the problem.

“We will recommend to the endowment commissioner and the legal department to bring a law with provisions for stringent action against servitors who fail to perform their duty,” said executive officer of the temple A.K. Patnaik.