Ghata Paribartan fiasco: SJTA notices to 11 servitors

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Puri: After a three-year gap, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Tuesday initiated action against 11 servitors in connection with the inordinate delay in the performance of the Ghata Paribartan ritual during the Nabakalebara festival in 2015.
The temple administration has served notices on a Maharana (carpenter) servitor and 10 Daita servitors in connection with the Ghata Paribartan fiasco.
“Notices have been served on 11 servitors as per the section 21 (a) of the Srimandir Act-1955. The temple administration will take punitive action against the servitors if they fail to provide satisfactory replies on the Ghata Paribartan issue. If required, criminal proceedings would be initiated against the servitors,” said an official of SJTA on conditions of anonymity. The Ghata Paribartan ritual, arguably the most secret ritual of Nabakalebara festival, was scheduled to be performed at the midnight of June 15, 2015. However, the ritual was performed during daytime June 16.
The delay created a hue and cry across the state. The state government as well as the SJTA invited flak from several quarters. Then SJTA chief administrator, Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, had probed the incident as per section 21 (a) of the Srimandir Act-1955.
Mahapatra had recorded the statements of four Badagrahis (caretakers of idols and chariots during Rath Yatra), Daita Niyog president and secretary, Bidyapati and Bishwabasu of Nabakalebara and 10 Bishwakarma (carpenter) servitors in connection with the fiasco. The SJTA had suspended senior Daita servitor Kashinath Dasmahapatra and his son Jaykrushna Dasmahapatra as per preliminary investigation into the incident. Soon the SJTA had constituted a three-member committee to study the report and give their findings.