Puri: As many as 40 earthen stoves in the kitchen of Puri Jagannath temple were found vandalized on Sunday morning, sources said. The matter came to light when the doors of the ‘Roshaghara’ or the temple kitchen were opened on Sunday morning for cooking. It is suspected that the stoves were vandalized on Saturday night after the completion of all duties.
The Puri temple kitchen, which is one of the biggest in the country, has a total of 240 earthen stoves of which 43 were found broken. The stoves are used to prepare ‘Mahaprasad’, which is offered to the deities of the temple and devotees. A business rivalry was stated to be the reason behind this incident,
A team comprising temple security administrators and policy administrators has been constituted to probe the incident. Some Sevayats and the JTP members have been grilled in this connection. Meanwhile, Puri District Magistrate (DM) Samarth Burma said action would be taken against the culprits after the submission of the investigation report by the probing team members.
While there is no provision for CCTV cameras in the Roshaghara (Kitchen), further steps will be taken to tighten the security. The vandalised stoves alone catered to 15,000 devotees using firewood. Puri Jagannath temple kitchen where priests can prepare mahaprasad for 1 lakh worshippers everyday.
