Odisha: Puri District Administration Steps Up Jagannath Temple Security After Kitchen Vandalisation

It was decided at the meeting that all the personnel of the police, district and temple administration will conduct a coordination meeting every week instead of once a month.

Lord Jagannath Temple In Puri (Image: Getty)

New Delhi: A day after a person was arrested for allegedly vandalising the earthen ovens inside the kitchen at Puri’s Lord Jagannath Temple, the Puri district administration stepped up the security of the 12^th century shrine on Thursday, a senior official said.

According to a report by news agency PTI, after a meeting of the officials of district administration, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), police department and hereditary servitors, Puri district collector Samarth Verma, who is also the deputy chief administrator of SJTA, said that the district police will be stationed inside the shrine along with the Jagannath Temple Police (JTP) from Thursday night.

Verma said that the discussion was held on bolstering the security at the temple in the wake of the oven vandalization that has exposed the lacunae in the existing security arrangement, as pointed out by the members.

He further said that it was decided at the meeting that all the personnel of the police, district and temple administration will conduct a coordination meeting every week instead of once a month.

It has also been decided that the CCTV camera network would be expanded, Verma added.

A preliminary survey on boosting and upgradation of the CCTV cameras has already been completed.

“We may require 135 CCTV cameras for installation inside the temple for which the locations have been identified. The CCTVs will be wireless and server-based,” Verma said.

After the kitchen incident where a man vandalised over 40 chullhas on Saturday night, the district police have started thorough checking of all devotes entering the temple.

Meanwhile, the SJTA sources said that they were facing problems due to staff shortage. The district administration has already written to the state government for the recruitment of more employees under SJTA, the collector further said.