Bhubaneswar: When the government is investing over Rs 3,000 crore for the development of Puri town, cracks have been spotted in the Garbhagruha of the famous 12th century Srimandir in Puri.
The seepage points were spotted during a joint inspection of the temple carried out in the presence of technical committee members. Officials from the ASI (Archaeology Survey of India), Works department and the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) conducted the physical inspection of the Garbhagruha, Natamandap, Jagamohana and Bhogamandap in July this year.
According to the inspection report, former Superintendent of ASI, Odisha BK Rath—who was also part of the inspection team— spotted three leakage points at the north, south and south-east corner, below the corbel-level.
Rath informed the team that the leakages are at the level of Baranda, Dasakama and the joint of Jagamohan and main temple.
However, no other member from the inspection team has found any kind of leakage or seepage in the walls of Garbhagruha.
The committee has decided to initiate further inspection of the leakage spots before taking any decision in this regard. Tertiary PMC grouts will be used at the leakage points after further observation to check whether there is any leakage or not.
Notably, the ‘Sevayats’ had reported to authorities about the leakage of rain water
inside the Garbhagruha during cyclonic Fani that had hit Puri, May 3.