ASI rushes in expert as Its role is in scanner

BHUBANESWAR: Four days after a huge stone came crashing down near the western gate of Jagannath Temple in Puri, the Director General (DG) of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has rushed in an expert to the temple to take stock.On Friday, RS Jamwal, Superintending Engineering from DG, ASI Office, arrived at Puri. He inspected the temple along with Superintending Archaeologist, Orissa, AK Patel.While Patel remained incommunicado, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist of ASI Hemasagar A Naik said an expert committee of ASI is conducting the inspection and the future strategy will be drawn up once it is over.However, the conservation body’s role has come under scanner for its handling of the 12th century edifice. It is not the first time such an incident has happened at the famous temple but the ASI’s response can at best be called lukewarm, said servitors.Even the Jagannath Temple Administration (JTA) acknowledges that ASI’s attitude has remained indifferent. “There have been several instances when the temple administration sought permission from ASI to carry out certain renovation and conservation work but they just did not reply.Neither do they allow us to do anything nor do they carry out any thing on their own,” Chief Administrator of the temple Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said.Meanwhile, after the November 1 incident, ASI has submitted a fresh proposal for deplastering before the temple administration.Mohapatra said a meeting of the technical committee of the temple administration has been convened on November 9 where the ASI officials will be asked to participate.“We have already asked them to carry out a thorough inspection of the entire shrine and submit a certificate to us. Besides, we would like to know from ASI the exact nature of deplastering work it is proposing, how long will it take to complete and whether it will affect the niti (temple rituals),” Mohapatra said.Former Puri MLA Uma Ballav Rath, who heads the Sri Jagannath Surakhya Abhiyan, endorses the view that ASI’s efforts have fallen short of the mark .“When a statue fell off the main gate of the temple recently, instead of taking any action, the ASI suggested the temple administration to replace the sculpture for which it would reimburse the costs.” Available records reveal that since 1843 AD, stones have fallen 13 times from the main temple and other parts of the complex. The ASI took over the conservation of the temple in 1972