Sambalpur: After a gap of 18 days, devotees offered puja to the Goddess Samaleswari, the presiding deity of Sambalpur, on Monday.

The garvagruha (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple was closed since April 12 for repair and renovation work. Large number of devotees queued in front of the temple since early morning for darshan. After the puja by the priests, the temple was opened for public darshan with beating of traditional drums and other musical instruments.

On the request of the temple trust, a team of technical experts from ASI (Archaeological survey of India) from Bhubaneswar led by Aswini Satpathy and Gopal Chandra Mishra visited the temple a few months back and suggested repair and renovation of the sanctum sanctorum. The team said public darshan and repair work was not possible simultaneously. Therefore darshan was suspended during repairwork. The goddess platform, floor, walls and steps had got damaged and developed cracks and big holes due to menace of rats. The outlet for the coconut water from the pandal was chocked due to rats. The repair work was taken up by the ASI team of Bhubaneswar under the guidance of Aswini Satpathy and engineer Prasanna Sahu.

The floor was replaced with construction of specially designed outlet for the coconut water. The 12feet height marble fitted inside the temple 30 years ago had become weak and unsafe which were replaced during the process, president of the Ma Samaleswari Trust Board Sanjay Babu said. Plaster of the walls were removed and scientifically cleared with chemicals treatment, he said.