Odisha beefs up security at Puri Temple after kitchen vandalisation

The Puri district administration on Thursday increased the security at the Lord Jagannath temple after miscreants vandalised over 100 chulhas inside the temple kitchen.

A day after the arrest of a man on charges of vandalizing the earthen ovens inside the kitchen at Lord Jagannath Temple here, the Puri district administration on Thursday beefed up security at the 12th century shrine, a senior official said.

Puri district collector Samarth Verma, who is also the deputy chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), said the district police will be deployed inside the temple along with the Jagannth Temple Police (JTP) from Thursday night.

Verma said this after a meeting of the officials of district administration, SJTA, police department and hereditary servicers. He said the discussion was held on augmenting security in the temple as many participants pointed out that the `Chullha’ vandalisation incident has exposed lacunae in the existing security arrangement.

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

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It was also decided that CCTV camera network would be expanded. 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,” Verma said.

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