Puri: All the ornaments and other precious valuables stored inside the two chambers of Ratna Bhandar of Srimandir have been shifted to strong rooms for a temporary period to carryout repair work of the Bhandar.
The 11-member authorised committee including Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Aravind Padhee and Justice Biswanath Rath has successfully shifted the treasure from Bhitar Ratna Bhandar to “Khata-Seja Ghar” the designated temporary strong room in Sri Jagannath temple today.
It took about seven and a half hours to shift all the wealth of the deities to the temporary strong room under video camera recordings amid tight security, informed Justice Rath.
The committee members after darshan of Mahalaxmi, Bimala, Bhubaneswari, and Sri Loknath, opened the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar by 9.51 AM, the auspicious time determined by the astrologer and the work was accomplished by 5.15 PM, he said.
The wealth was stored in three wooden almirahs, one steel almirah, two (Sinduka) iron, and one wooden chest. Since the width of treasure chests (sindukas) are bigger than the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar door the committee on the spot decided to open these chests and almirahs and took the contents to the temporary strong room, Justice Rath said.
He said the chests and almirahs were opened and there were treasures kept in small boxes. Without opening these boxes, they were shifted to the strong room. None of the members saw any ornaments as these were not opened, Justice Rath said.
. Except for the power supply team, services of other support staff were not needed during the operation, he added.
Justice Rath advised the YouTubers and social media not to spread rumours regarding the treasure of the deities. The team could not see any tunnel in the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar, he added.
“As per the SOP, we cannot go for laser scanning or further investigate Ratna Bhandar but to open both the Bahar and Bhitar Ratna Bhandaras and transfer the treasures to two separate temporary strong rooms under tight security and CCTV recordings. Since the opening of Bhitar Ratna Bhandar is done after nearly four decades, an opportunity has come our way,” the former judge of the Orissa HC said.
After getting approval from the government in this regard , the further investigation into the Ratna Bhandar can be done, Justice Rath said.
The Keys of both the strong rooms and all almirahs and chests were handed over to the collector which will be deposited in the district treasury, he stated.
Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb said the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar, to his knowledge, has never been repaired since 1972 when the temple was entrusted to ASI for conservation.
The King did not rule out the existence of secret compartments or rooms in the Ratna Bhandar. He said laser scanning and other gadgets could be used to find out if there are any such facilities inside the Bhitar Bhandar.