Puri: In the wake of depleting water table near Srimandir, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has initiated the process to recharge the Ganga well that meets the water needs of the shrine kitchen.
Sources said the SJTA has planned to sink two borewells on the shrine premises to facilitate recharge of the Ganga well. The temple administration has asked the Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) to dig the borewells. “We will select suitable places on Srimandir premises and start digging the borewells soon,” said a PHEO official.
The 12th Century shrine has nine wells on its precincts. However, as per rituals, the servitors lift water from Ganga and Yamuna wells to cook Mahaprasad for Srimandir deities.
According to sources, the 13-metre deep Ganga and 12.2-metre deep Yamuna had virtually gone dry in 2006. An alarmed state government had then constituted a six-member committee to look into the crisis. The panel had found excessive use of groundwater to be reason behind the crisis. It had recommended to the district administration and Puri Municipality to conserve groundwater near the shrine. However, the administration preferred to sit on the recommendations, sources added.
Subsequently, the SJTA recharged the Yamuna well by digging two borewells on Srimandir precincts. However, the two wells also dried up during the Nabakalebara Rath Yatra in 2015. The situation had come to such a pass that the servitors had to lift water from a well at a nearby garden to cook Mahaprasad.
The temple administration had engaged 10 workers to remove sediment from Yamuna well in August 2015.
According to sources, a few servitors met newly-appointed SJTA Chief Administrator Pradip Kumar Jena Monday and apprised him of the fast depleting water levels in Ganga and Yamuna. “Jena assured us to take steps to address the water crisis. He told us that the issue would be looked into on priority basis,” a servitor said.
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