Concrete chip falls off Puri temple

BHUBANESWAR: A priest was injured at the Jagannath temple in Puri when a piece of concrete fell off from the pinnacle of the temple on Sunday evening. The plaster chunk, weighing around 1 kg, fell on the head of priest Debi Prasad Panda when he was escorting some pilgrims in the outer complex of the shrine. He has sustained minor injuries.
Following the incident, a two-member ASI team from Bhubaneswar rushed to Puri on Monday to take stock of the situation."Our engineers are inspecting the site from where the piece of plaster was detached. It will be repaired on a war footing," ASI's superintending archaeologist S K Patel told TOI.
Asked whether the arch stone (dadhinauti) of the temple was weak, Patel said: "I don't think it is weak as we inspect in regularly. We will take stock of it again." While priests alleged that the piece that fell off was a stone, Patel denied it. "It is not a stone. It is plaster," he said. At present, ASI is carrying out de-plastering work of Jagamohan (frontal porch) and repair of Singhadwar, main entrance of the temple.
Priests blamed the ASI for poor maintenance of the temple. "The ASI is not serious about the spurt in stone fall incidents in the temple. Most of subsidiary shrines inside the main temple precincts are in poor condition," said a servitor, Gourishankar Singhari.
Devotees are jittery after the incident. "It is a matter of concern. The temple and ASI authorities should take steps to prevent recurrence of such mishaps," said Prasanna Roy, a visitor. Tumbling of stones at the temple is nothing new. While a one tonne stone collapsed on November 1, 2011, a five tonne stone slab came crashing down from a structure (Amlabedha) of the temple during heavy rains on June 14, 1990. Two heavy slabs fell right into the sanctum sanctorum on August 13, 1992, creating flutter in the state. A 15 kg rock rolled down from the main temple on October 26, 1998 and fell near the Bimla temple within the periphery of Jagannath temple complex. The mishaps did not claim any life.
Soon after last year's incident, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had drawn the attention of former union tourism minister and also ASI top honchos about the poor show of ASI.
Priests too went hammer and tongs at ASI. Under the banner of Chhatisa Nijog Sevayat Mahasamilani, the priests had thrown a spanner in the ASI's repair work at the temple on December 5 protesting its inefficacy.