Bhubaneswar: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief Pradipta Mohapatra has termed the incidents related to delay in conduct of rituals at Srimandir as ‘unacceptable’ and said that rituals should not be disrupted.
“Sticking to demands on small incidents is not acceptable. Sometimes good sense should prevail. Raising demands is a separate issue, but the rituals for Lord Jagannath should never be disrupted. It should be kept in mind that this involves the emotions of the pilgrims and devotees who want to worship the Lord. Whatever has happed was regrettable and it should not have happened,” Mohapatra said.
“I have great respect and regard for the servitors of Puri and I want to request them to not disrupt the rituals at any cost but keep space for discussions. Servitors have been entrusted with the task of serving the Lord. It should be ensured that the service of the Lord is not disrupted. The whole incident was unfortunate that the devotees were deprived of darshan,” he added.
The SJTA chief urged the servitors to take up discussion as a route to resolve their issues. This comes after rituals of the Srimandir were delayed for hours Friday as the servitors stuck to their demands of action against the Superintendent of Police (SP) and threatened retaliation if their demands are not met.
Mohapatra spoke to the reporters from the State Secretariat and assured that the process of inquiry has been initiated based on the demands of the servitors and the services of the temple should go uninterrupted.
PNN