Baripada: Even as the Jagannath temple at Baripada occupies a significant place in the hearts of people in the area, the state government has given its nod to chalk out a project for its maintenance and beautification at Lokseba Bhawan Wednesday.
According to reports, in the absence of adequate maintenance the Jagannath temple has gradually got dilapidated, the maintenance of which is under control of the state endowment department.
Worthy to note here that servitors have been constantly fighting for the cause of Jagannath temple for over 10 years. Earlier, Naveen Patnaik had visited this temple to seek the blessings of the Lord, during his election campaign for 2019 general elections.
Servitors had then put out their demands before him and subsequently as the district authorities showed inertia, they twice held padyatras to Bhubaneswar and were detained by the local administration halfway.
The Chief Minister, including 5T Secretary VK Pandian, BJD observer for Mayurbhanj district and MLA Pranab Prakash Das and other senior officials had discussions with the representatives of servitors. Naveen Patnaik has to visit Baripada and the details of the project will be announced soon, 5T Secretary Pandian had informed.
Annoyed with the apathetic attitude of the departmental officials, the servitors had agitated several times, but in vain. As a result, the servitors decided to give an ultimatum to the state government and threatened to resign en-masse if their demands in this connection are not conceded before November end.
A memorandum on various problems faced by the temple was earlier submitted to the Chief Minister through Baripada Sub-Collector Dibyajyoti Parida. After the state government’s nod in this regard, the decision of mass-resignation was revoked.
A five-member team including Kameswar Tripathy, Arun Kumar Mishra, Radhashyam Mohapatra, Sunil Panda and Mrityunjaya Mohapatra represented servitors during the discussions.
PNN