Bhubaneswar, July 1: The Jagannath temple administration today gave a clean chit to the servitors in connection with the Snana Purnima fiasco. It had been alleged that the servitors had allowed devotees to touch the deities on the snana mandap (bathing altar) on June 20 despite a ban against this imposed by the temple administration.
The chief of the Jagannath temple administration, Suresh Mohapatra, said: "Servitors cannot be blamed for the mismanagement that took place. We thoroughly went through 45 minutes of CCTV footage of the incident but we did not see any servitor taking the devotees near the snana mandap. The reason for the fiasco could be the fact that devotees were allowed to enter the temple even before the barricades had been removed completely."
Mohapatra also said the temple administration would be careful in future to ensure that such incidents did not take place again.
The incident created resentment among the devotees, who blamed the temple administration for the mismanagement. It drew severe criticism from the Puri king, Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb, who said no one should touch the deities except for the servitors designated for the rituals.
"The deities at the Jagannath temple should not be treated as dolls and devotees should not be allowed to touch the idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings either inside the sanctum sanctorum or outside," said Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb. He is also the chairman of the temple management committee. The criticism had forced the administration to conduct a probe.
The temple administration today also made it clear that the devotees would not be allowed to climb atop the chariots during the annual chariot festival.
The temple administration has decided to install CCTVs around the chariots at Saradhabali after the deities reach Gundicha Temple.
"We would make adequate arrangements for the devotees to touch the chariots near Gundicha Temple. If any one is found to be taking the devotees atop the chariots, stringent action would be initiated against them," Mohapatra said.
