Odisha Chanel Bureau
Puri, July 31: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has fixed the damaged Kalahat and Jay Vijay, the two doors of Sri Jagannath temple and cleaned moss from the temple roofs and inner walls. The ASI has set temporary scaffolding under the Jagamohan roof which was severely damaged and was in a poor state.
The cooling system has been installed to keep cool the sanctum sanctorum to suction out the humid hot air generated from the hot cooked bhog offerings.MECON, a government of India undertaking, had installed the system.A 20-member expert committee headed by A.P.Gupta, former professor of IIT Kharagpur, after a thorough inspection of the sanctum sanctorum and Jagamohan had suggested removal of moss from the Garbhagruha wall and roofs.The team had detected major cracks in the inner roof of Jagamohan and on the north east lintel and support pillar.
They suggested ASI to carry out repairs for bringing structural stability to the Jagamohan.They also advised to stop burning of Diyas inside the Garbhagruha.The statutory expert committee is constituted by the State government to look after repair, conservation and chemical treatment of this 12th Century temple on annual basis. The inspection and repair exercise was conducted during the Rath Yatra when the deities stayed in the Gundicha temple.
In response to the expert committee recommendations the temple chief administrator S.C.Mmhapatra had written letter to the Director General of the ASI to repair the damaged portions on war footing for structural stability of the Jagamohan.
