Amid widespread resentment among political parties in Odisha and crores of Jagannath devotees across the world against the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for its alleged negligence in repairing the Jagamohan, facing the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the Centre on Monday decided to send a delegation of experts led by the Union Culture and Tourism Secretary to the State to have a detailed study of the prayer hall.
The team would include the ASI Director-General, senior IIT Chennai engineers and other senior officials. It would consult the expert faculty from IIT Bhubaneswar and NIT Rourkela on the structural aspects of the temple.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting convened at the initiative of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and attended by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, the Ministry's Secretary, the ASI DG and other officials in New Delhi.
After the meeting, Pradhan clarified that the ASI has not rejected the proposal of its technical core committee on the repair and restoration work of the Jagamohan as reported in the media.
"The ASI has received two reports, one on the proposals of the ASI technical core committee and another from the National Centre for Safety of Heritage Structures (NCSHS), a research wing of the Madras IIT. "After review, I found that there is no mention of the ASI rejecting the proposal of the technical core committee," said Pradhan.
He said the ASI was examining these two reports in detail.
Informing about the visit of the delegation, Pradhan said besides holding discussions with experts the team would meet the State Chief Secretary and prepare a draft project report on permanent repair of the inner side of Jagamohan by assessing the extent of the damage to its inner roof, which was noticed while deplastering.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also shared his concern with the people of Odisha and said Modi was personally monitoring the issue.
Clarifying that they had neither any intention to delay the repair and restoration work of the Jagamohan, Union Minister Sharma said there was some technical problem for which the work had been delayed.
"The ASI has received the report of the ASI technical core committee. Now that it has received the report of the Madras IIT, work will start very soon," he informed.
ASI DG Rajesh Tiwari said the work would be taken up with technical assistance of the experts of the Madras IIT and the ASI experts.
Among others, BJP MlA Dilip Ray was also present at the review meeting.
Meanwhile, Puri King Gajapati Maharaj Dibya Singh Deb urged for early completion of the repair work of the Jagamohan.
"Now we have to ensure that the restoration work must begin at the earliest with the best available scientific technique. They (ASI) must begin the work on a war footing and complete it at the earliest. We have very little time for the whole process," he told reporters.
While stressing on quality of the reconstruction work, Singh Deb maintained that it must begin without much delay.