Puri: In what could be described as gross indiscipline and mismanagement at Srimandir here, all routine and special rituals of the presiding deities could not be performed till Friday evening due to non-cooperation of the servitors.
The servitors refused to perform the rituals to protest against alleged police assault on one of their colleagues, Bhitarchha Bhabani Shankar Mahapatra, Thursday night.
As a result, Lord Jagannath and his siblings–Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra–were not served Prasad till evening.
The servitors, however, agreed to perform the rituals at around 5pm after the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) assured them of accepting their five-point charter of demands.
According to sources, the servitors were to start performing temple rituals at 3 am Friday. However, they refused to perform the rituals and did not open the Jay-Bijay gate of the shrine citing the police attack on Mahapatra. Hundreds of servitors staged a dharna at the Beharana gate of Srimandir and demanded that the SJTA fulfills their demands immediately.
On being informed, Collector Jyotiprakash Das and superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi reached Srimandir and held discussions with the agitating servitors. However, the servitors refused to cooperate till the SJTA accepted their demands.
Hundreds of devotees were seen waiting at the Lions’ Gate of Sriamandir for hours to have a darshan of the deities.
The Collector and SP once again met the agitating servitors around 11am and asked them to end the stir. But the servitors refused to comply and sought the presence of the Law Minister, SJTA chief administrator and other senior officials at the shrine to discuss their demands.
The stalemate ended in the evening when the SJTA expressed its readiness to accept the servitors’ demands.
According to sources, the Mangalalati ritual of presiding deities was performed at 6.30 pm, at least 14 hours behind schedule. The deities were offered Prasad at night after the completion of Abakash ritual at around 7 pm, sources said.