Puri: Some Srimandir servitors and employees are still using smart phones on the 12th Century shrine premises even though the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had put restrictions on such devices at least one and half months ago.
The SJTA had allowed servitors and temple employees to use phones with identical features in the temple complex as per a decision taken at a meeting of the Chhatisha Niyog, the apex body of servitors, September 20.
The temple administration had asked servitors and Srimandir employees not to take smart phones and camera phones into the shrine. It was then alleged that some people had taken several selfies at Srimandir by using their smart phones and uploaded the photos to their social media accounts.
Soon after the Chhatisha Niyog meeting, SJTA chief administrator Pradip Jena had said that all the feature phones for servitors and employees will have a special logo. He had also claimed that the SJTA was mulling to introduce a closed user group (CUG) for temple servitors and staff.
Jena had asked district collector, superintendent of police and a few senior servitors to consult a mobile operator for introducing the feature phone scheme. However, the temple administration is yet to provide feature phones to servitors and Srimandir employees.
“Servitors usually spend at least 10 hours every day at Srimandir. So, they need phones to keep in touch with their relatives. A few servitors are still carrying smart phones into the shrine as the SJTA has failed to launch the feature phone scheme,” said a source.
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