A number of stones were damaged and some tumbled down from the inner roof of the Jagamohan and cracks were found on it when a false ceiling was being removed in the Puri Jagannath temple on the Wednesday.
An expert team inspecting it asked the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducting repairs and conservation work of the temple since 1972 to fill up the cracks with resin and replace the damaged stones before the deities return to main temple. The experts too asked the ASI and the temple administration to stop burning of Diyas inside the Garbhagruha to mitigate high humidity emanating from the burning and huge quantity of hot cooked food offered to deities every day.
The statutory expert body comprising experts in various fields of civil and chemical engineering of the country was constituted by the Government to advise, suggest and monitor the work of the ASI over repairs and conservation of the temple, clean the moss from the wall and inner roof of Garbhagruha of the temple and repair the cracks on the wall by grouting method.
Former professor of IIT Kharagpur AP Gupta led the team while AK Patel the superintending archaeologist, Ranjeet Sahu superintending engineer of PWD, engineer NC Pal and Gopal Mitra participated in the inspection while Shree Jgannath Temple Administration chief Suresh Chandra Mahapatra was present.
On Wednesday, MECON engineers had initiated installation of cooling system in the Grabhagruha. Two machines, including an exhaust machine, were installed on the Jhulan Mandap of the temple with pipe connections to the Garbhagruha is being worked out. Earlier, the expert committee and temple managing body had given green signal to MECON, a subsidiary company of SAIl, to install the system.
While one machine through a pipe would supply cool bridge into the Garbhagruha, the other machine pipe would suction out the hot and humid air from it. It would take another two days to install the system, the engineers said.
PHD engineers inspected Ganga and Jamuna, the two dip wells inside the temple kitchen complex which were dried up posing a problem for preparation of bhog. It was found that during the monsoon the water depth in the two wells was less than one meter. The underground water level had fallen to a great extent.
The PHD engineers said they would try to install two dip bore tube wells near the wells to provide water or else the necessary water would be supplied from the Talabania underground sweet water zone through a dedicated pipe line.
This would be worked out before the deities enter into the main temple. Chief Engineer Khitish Sahu along with other PHD engineers inspected the water sources in the temple kitchen while temple officials were present.