Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has spent Rs 22 lakh on an inquiry into the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar. The delay in revealing the findings to the public is being seen as mysterious. Are all the gold and diamond safe?
Amid a lot of fanfare, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has made 5Ts바카라teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation and time limit바카라the mantra of his fifth term in office. But when it comes to opening the Ratna Bhandar바카라the treasure trove of Puri바카라s Jagannath temple, which reportedly has ornaments worth hundreds of crores and whose keys were reported missing more than a year ago바카라Naveen is seemingly dragging his feet, ignoring his promises of transparency and time limit.
As per the Jagannath Temple Act, 1960, the Naveen-led government should have conducted at least six assessments of the stored wealth in the 19 years that it has been in power, but the last time an inventory was made was in 1978! That it has not done so even after the clamour to open it for more than a year now has raised suspicions of large-scale pilferage. Breaking the lock open or making new keys couldn바카라t have cost more than a few hundred rupees. Instead, Naveen ordered a judicial inquiry to probe how the keys went missing바카라an exercise that cost the exchequer Rs 22 lakh. Justice Raghubir Das submitted his findings in November 2018, but the CM has neither disclosed its contents nor made any apparent effort to open the door.
Without a proper inventory in decades, nobody is sure what remains in Ratna Bhandar and any evidence of embezzlement could snowball into a huge controversy, given the sanctity of the temple. 바카라The CM is not sure what is there바카라or not there바카라inside and is, therefore, reluctant to take any steps,바카라 admits a senior government official on condition of anonymity. 바카라Given the high stakes, he has chosen to ignore his 5Ts when it comes to the Ratna Bhandar.바카라
The controversy, however, is refusing to die down. On October 29, Pradipta Nayak, leader of Opposition in the Odisha assembly, wrote to the CM urging him 바카라to conduct an audit immediately and reassure that our Lord바카라s wealth is safe. The Ratna Bhandar should be opened immediately and the list of jewellery should be matched with the inventory prepared in 1978.바카라
The controversy started on April 4 last year when a 17-member team of officials of the Archaeological Survey of India and temple administration went to take stock of the safety of the Ratna Bhandar바카라s structure under orders from the Orissa High Court. The team reportedly could not enter as the keys they carried failed to open the lock. However, after returning, Pradeep Jena, then chief administrator of the Jagannath Temple, told the waiting mediapersons there was 바카라no need to바카라 go inside the Ratna Bhandar, and that the structure바카라s safety was assessed with the help of searchlights.
The truth of the 바카라non-entry바카라, however, was revealed two months later when an Odia TV channel broke the news about a stormy meeting the temple officials had on April 4 after returning from the Ratna Bhandar. Gajapati King Dibyasingh Deb, considered Lord Jagannath바카라s first servitor, is said to have expressed serious concern over the missing keys.
Once the news leaked, all hell broke loose. 바카라If there was no need to enter, why were they carrying the keys?바카라 asks Priyadarshan Patnaik, head of Jagannath Sena, a socio-religious outfit. 바카라If the keys did not work, why were the gas cutters the team was carrying not used to break open the locks? After all, they had gone to inspect the Ratna Bhandar under orders of the high court. And the team had a magistrate who was empowered to order the breaking of locks.바카라 Puri resident Dinabandhu Mishra asks, 바카라If the government has nothing to hide, why is it not opening the Ratna Bhandar, making an inventory and tallying it with the one made in 1978 to see if all the gold and diamonds are intact?바카라
The government seems to be in no mood to answer the question. All that law minister Pratap Jena had to say in response to the leader of Opposition was that 바카라the government has already formed a probe commission to investigate the key fiasco바카라 and that it 바카라is not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to ensuring the security of Puri Srimandir바카라. The CM바카라s promise of transparency, however, has fallen flat on its face at the Ratna Bhandar바카라s mystery door.
By Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneswar