A day after a Jagannath Temple servitors’ body asked to boycott the last Rath Yatra Coordination Committee meeting, the Government has deferred the meeting to July 6.
The meeting was scheduled to be held on July 3 under chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Sources said the meeting was postponed due to a poster by the Shree Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani asking the servitors not to attend the meeting to protest a series of false allegations levelled against them.
The servitors’ body announced to boycott the meeting protesting the Puri district Collector’s alleged anti-servitor acts to defame the servitors on several issues including Niladri Bije and disrespect to President of India Ram Nath Kovind’s wife in Jagannath Temple. Notably, the preparations are in full swing for smooth conduct of the annual Rath Yatra of lord Jagannath. Following the poster by the Shree Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani, the district administration is likely to convince the servitors to join the meeting to be chaired by the CM to cooperate with the Government for smooth functioning of all the programmes during Rath Yatra.