Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has failed to check spitting on Srimandir premises as also prevent alms seekers from loitering around the shrine even after constituting a 13-member strong squad for the purpose.
Similarly, the sale and consumption of Mahaprasad at places other than Anandbazar, a designated place in the Srimandir precincts, are creating an unhygienic atmosphere in the 12th century shrine.
A couple of months ago, the temple administration had banned the chewing of betel (paan) leaves and mouth fresheners within the Srimandir premises. It had also put a ban on the sale of Mahaprasad at any place other than Anandbazar.
The SJTA had constituted a 13-member squad August 21 to take action against people spitting in the temple premises and check selling of Mahaprasad in the inner circle (Bhitara Bedha) of Srimandir. The squad was also required to shoo away alms seekers from the shrine.
Initially, the squad was quite active in maintaining cleanliness at the temple. Squad members had collected penalties from people who spitted at Srimandir and was partly successful in removing sellers of Mahaprasad from the inner circle and forcing away alms seekers from Srimandir. However, it was learnt that the squad has now become almost inactive.
Taking advantage of the slackness, many devotees and servitors were seen to have been spitting in the temple premises, especially near the West Gate. Throwing hygiene to the winds, many devotees were seen partaking Prasad near Goddess Bimala temple at Srimandir. Dumping of empty earthen pots and used leaf plates here and there are being seen as the root cause of the worsening hygiene at the shrine, sources said.
When contacted, Srimandir public relations officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda blamed a few devotees for violation of hygiene norms.
“Devotees must not chew paan or gutkha in the temple premises. They should cooperate with the temple administration to maintain cleanliness at Srimandir. Formation of a squad cannot solve the problem alone,” Pujapanda said.
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