Devotees Occupy Unsafe Buildings to Catch Glimpse
of the Lord

BY: SUN STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Jul 10, 2013 —JAGANNATHA PURI, ORISSA — Rules are made to be broken. Defying the district administration's ruling, hundreds of pilgrims climbed the rooftops of a number of 'unsafe' buildings to have better view of the Deities aboard Their chariots on Wednesday. As many as 10 single-storey buildings, mostly old mutts, were declared unsafe by district administration. Even though they had promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC to prevent entry of pilgrims onto the rickety buildings, all precautions ran into rough weather.

Some shrine priests, who set up makeshift tents on rooftops of those buildings, minted money by providing seats to elite pilgrims. "Even though we protested the installation of tents, the powerful priests threatened us to keep quiet. We have informed the district collector about the violation," a mutt functionary said, requesting anonymity.

Rangoli in front of Chariots

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

Puri district collector, Naba Kumar Nayak refused to comment when asked why the district administration failed to execute the restriction on unsafe buildings. Police passed the buck to the district officers. "At a time when we were worried about possible law and order situation and crowd mismanagement, it was not our priority to stop pilgrims from entering the unsafe buildings. We could have provided security to the district administration if they wanted to seal the buildings," a senior police officer said.

"The administration is making us scapegoat. It threatened to take action against us if anybody climbed atop the mutt. But the government officials did not seal the unsafe portions," another mutt functionary said.

Jagannatha Pahandi

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]

Sources said each seat on the terraces costs around Rs 500. "Some pilgrims do not mind paying Rs 5,000 to get the best view point of the chariot pulling," a source said. The district administration this time identified 11 unsafe buildings near Jagannath Temple. District officials said the administration failed to pull down the decadent buildings because of the stay orders by different courts.

Hanuman at Chariot

[ Photo: Sampradaya Sun ]