Puri: Ratna Bhandar (store house/repository of ornaments) of Sri Mandir, the 12th century shrine in Odisha’s Pilgrim town-Puri will be opened for the much-awaited inspection tentatively at 2 PM tomorrow.

A 16-member team instead of the earlier announced 10-member team will enter the Ratna Bhandar after the dwitiya bhoga mandap(offering of Prasad) at around 2 PM to check its walls and roof for structural stability and safety, revealed a reliable source.

Puri king Gajapati Dibya Singha Deb’s representative-Amiya Mohanty, Chhatisa Nijog’s Mahanayak-Janardhan Patajoshi, Bhandar Mekap-Ganesh Mekap, Deula Karan-Chandrasekhar Mangaraj,Tadhau Karan-Himanshu Patnaik, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) engineers-H A Nayak and Chittaranjan Dash, Core Committee members-G C Mitra and N C Pal, Orissa High Court appointed Amicus Curiae N K Mohanty, two members of the Ratna Bhandar Sub Committee, Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal, Sri Jagannath Temple Administration(SJTA) Chief Administrator Pradip Kumar Jena, Puri S P Dr Sarthak Sarangi and Niti Prashak (temple ritual administrator) Pradip Kumar Dash are the members of the 16-member team which will enter the Ratna Bhandar, the source said.

While guidelines have been issued to the team members, elaborate arrangements have been made for safety and security.

For security purpose two platoons of policemen will be stationed both inside and outside the temple, said Puri S P Sarthak Sarangi to reporters.

Sarangi said while team members will wear gamuchas (towels) provided by the temple administration, they will be frisked and scanned with metal detectors before entering the Ratna Bhandar and after their return.

People from Snake Helpline and ambulance will be kept in attendance to meet any eventuality during the operation apart from keeping the temple closed for the public for darshan. Further, oxygen will be pumped in through machines into the Ratna Bhandar to make breathing easy for the team members inside the chambers which will be opened after 33 years.

The team will submit its signed report to the SJTA Chief Administrator before leaving the temple premises after inspection.

Inspection is likely to take about two hours to end at 4 PM.