Panel to stock jewelry, treasured stones within the Ratna Bhandar of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday fashioned a 12-member committee, headed by former Supreme Courtroom Justice Arijit Pasayat, to supervise the stock of jewelry and different treasured stones stored within the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.

The Ratna Bhandar, located close to sanctum sanctorum of the temple, has completely different chambers containing gold jewelry and treasured stones donated by devotees.  The final such stock of the temple treasury was carried out 46 years in the past, when gold and silver ornaments wrapped in crimson fabric had been saved in picket bins. When it was opened in 1978, the Ratna Bhandar had greater than 1.2 quintals of gold and a couple of.2 quintals of silver. Along with this, a sizeable quantity of gold ornaments are used often in temple rituals.

Ramakant Panda, famend heart specialist, will act as Vice-Chairman of the committee whereas Vidhu Bhushan Samal, former Chairman and Managing Director of Allahabad Financial institution; A. Okay. Sabat, Chartered Accountant; and Dibyasingh Deb, Chairman of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration Committee, Puri’s titular king, and consultant of the Archaeological Survey of India, can be members of the committee.

Based on the Chief Minister’s Workplace, the choice to kind a high-level committee below the Chairmanship of Justice Arijit Pasayat was taken in step with the order of the Orissa Excessive Courtroom.

Regardless of calls for made for it, together with by the 2 Opposition events, the BJP and the Congress, the State authorities had appeared reluctant to open the Ratna Bhandar. Former State BJP president Sameer Mohanty had even moved the Orissa Excessive Courtroom. The State Congress unit campaigned extensively for the same trigger.

Earlier, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had sought the mandatory assist for the inspection of the Ratna Bhandar from the Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple. The ASI had made an analogous request in 2018.