All four gates of Puri Srimandir can’t be opened: Minister

Bhubaneswar: Amid the growing demand for the opening of four gates of Srimandir in Puri for the convenience of devotees, Odisha minister stated that all four gates cannot be opened.

Answering a question asked by Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete on the opening of all four gates of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Law Minister Jagannath Saraka said that three gates that are currently closed for devotees cannot be opened at this time.

“Entry of devotees into the Jagannath Temple in Puri through four gates was closed since March 20, 2020 due to Covid-19 restructions. As the Srimandir Parikrama project is still underway, three gates cannot be opened for devotees for entry into the temple,” Saraka informed the House today.

Apart from Singhadwar, the Government has opened the Paschim Dwar (west gate) of Srimandir for locals to evade excess crowd for entry into the temple. The devotees now take no longer time for darshan inside the temple except the days when entry is restricted into the temple for conduct of special rituals of deities, he added.

Worth mentioning, all gates of Puri Jagannath Temple except Singhadwar were closed for devotees since the days of lockdown and shutdown restrictions due to Covid pandemic situation. With normalcy returned, the devotees were allowed to enter into Srimandir through Singhadwar, located in eastern direction of the temple. In view of huge crowd and delayed darshan, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in August decided to open one more gate in the west for Puri locals. The north gate is being used for exit purpose.