Baripada: As electioneering for the fourth phase of elections got into a feverish pitch, servitors of Jagannath temple in Baripada raised the demand for Dwitiya Srikshetra status to the shrine before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday.
Patnaik, who visited Baripada Thursday, had a darshan of the deities in the temple before going on a marathon road show at various parts of Mayurbhanj seeking votes for his party nominees.
Servitors said that Baripada Jagannath temple has its own specialty. Rathyatra usually begins here a day after it starts at Puri. Another specialty here is that only women are entitled to pull the chariot of Devi Shubhadra. People have been calling it Dwitiya Srikhetra, but the government has not recognized it, they lamented.
Notably, it was the first visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Baripada Jagannath temple. The servitors submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister in this regard.
The servitors also put forth demands like appointment of an officer (magistrate rank) for the endowment department, appointment of servitors in mutts and temples, measure to streamline the rituals, reclaim of landed properties of mutts and temples and daily allowance of Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 to servitors.
The Chief Minister was learnt to have assured the servitors of looking into their demands.
PNN
