Puri: Samarth Verma, District Magistrate Puri has come out with effective security plan for Srimandir a day after arrest of a man on charge of vandalizing the earthen ovens inside Lord Jagannath Temple kitchen here,.
Mr.Verma said the Puri District Administration has beefed up security at the 12th century shrine.
Mr.Verma, who is also the Deputy Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said the District Police will also be deployed inside the temple along with the Jagannth Temple Police (JTP) from Thursday night.
Mr.Verma said this after a meeting of the officials of SJTA, District Administration, District Police and servitors.
He said the discussion was held on augmenting security in the temple as many participants pointed out that the oven vandalisation incident has exposed the lacuna in the existing security arrangement.
It was decided at the meeting that all officials of police, district and temple administration will have a coordination meeting every week instead of each month to sort out the issues.
It was also decided that CCTV camera network would be widened. A preliminary survey on augmentation and up-gradation of 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,” Mr.Verma said.
Meanwhile, SJTA sources said that they were facing problems due to shortage of staff. The district administration has already written to the state government for recruitment of more employees under SJTA, the District Magistrate aid.
Following the temple kitchen incident where a man vandalized over 40 ovens on Saturday night, the District Police started through checking of all devotes entering into the shrine. Their bags and belongings were checked. This apart, instructions are also given to ensure that no one remain present inside the temple after main gates are closed, said a senior official of District Administration.