Puri, Jan 27: Public demand to open Sri Jagannath temple for the devotees is gaining ground following decline in new corona positive cases. On Thursday hundreds of beach vendors and activists of Jagannath sena staged a Jal Satyagrah (standing in knee deep sea water) at the Puri beach holding placards to open the Sri Jagannath temple at the earliest. Priyadarshan Pattnaik the convenor of Jagannath Sena questioned when all commercial establishments including veg and non veg market, shopping malls, bars and hotels are allowed to run their business why Srimandir is closed for devotees.
Beach vendor association leader Shivam Maharaj said the majority of town population is depending on the earnings from visitors who come to Puri to offer prayers to Lord Jagannath and his siblings. But the Administration on the pretext of pandemic are often closing the temple for devotees as a result devotees have stopped coming to Puri.
This has caused immense difficulty for small business people who depend upon transactions with visitors for their livelihood. “We are at the brink of starvation” Maharaj said and demanded the administration to open the temple for devotees.” It may be noted that in the wake of a spike in new corona positive cases in Puri the administration had closed the jagannath temple for devotees from January 10 till January 31 next. The temple administration has summoned a meeting of Chhatisha nijog ,the apex body of the servitors, on January 28 to discuss the issue before bringing out a new standard operating procedure(SOP) on January 31, Jagannath temple administrator A K Jena said.
