Ratna Bhandar is safe, says SJTA

Bhubaneswar: Amid demands for opening of ‘Ratna Bhandar’ of Puri Jagannath temple and making an inventory of the valuables stored there, the authorities of the shrine on Saturday assured the people of Odisha that the treasure chest of the Lord is safe.

The temple managing committee earlier decided to recommend to the Odisha government to allow the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the custodian of the 12th-century shrine, to open and carry out repair work of the Ratna Bhandar during the Rath Yatra next year.

“The Ratna Bhandar is safe and none should be worried about it,” Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Ranjan Das told reporters.

He was replying to a question on the Orissa High Court’s order to form a special committee on opening of the Ratna Bhandar. “The issue of formation of the special committee would be discussed in the Shri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee meeting soon,” he said. The managing committee, headed by the titular king of Puri and comprising various people including government officials, is the highest decision-making body of the Puri temple.

Managing Committee member Madhab Mohapatra said the decision of the panel would be informed to the Odisha government which will take action subsequently.

The administration of Lord Jagannath’s temple in Puri is under the Law department of the State government and the SJTA, which is responsible for management of the shrine, is headed by a senior IAS officer.

Right to Information (RTI) activist Dilip Baral, however, raised questions on the government’s intention to open the Ratna Bhandar. “On August 4, it was decided in the managing committee meeting that the inventory of the ornaments would be done when the inner Ratna Bhandar would be opened,” said Baral, who had moved the Orissa High Court last year claiming that construction work for a government project has affected the health of the temple.

Baral alleged that the BJD government is deferring the matter till the Assembly elections due next year.

The Opposition parties demanded that the administration make an inventory of the valuables kept at the Ratna Bhandar as there is a “glaring mismatch” between the figures of the quantity of gold and silver ornaments mentioned by the government in the Assembly and by the SJTA in an affidavit in the High Court.

Earlier, the SJTA had informed the Orissa High Court through an affidavit that one and a half quintals (149 kg 460 grams) of gold and 184 kg of silver ornaments are in the Ratna Bhandar. The inventory was made when the treasure chest was last opened in 1978.

This treasury of the Jagannath Temple has been enriched by donations offered by devotees.