Ratna Bhandar almirahs to be shifted to Niladri Vihar museum

BHUBANESWAR: The empty almirahs and chests in both the chambers of the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath temple will be shifted out of the treasury on August 23. They will be transferred to the Niladri Vihar museum located on the premises of the 12th century shrine. Public ‘darshan’ of the Trinity will be prohibited during the exercise.

This was decided at a meeting of the 11-member core committee on reopening of Ratna Bhandar on Tuesday. Committee chairman Justice Biswanath Rath said the members have decided to enter the Ratna Bhandar after the rituals are completed at 2 pm on Friday. A medical team, snake helpline members and a group of iron grill cutters will be kept in readiness within the shrine.

Justice Rath informed that almost all the wooden almirahs in both the chambers are in severely dilapidated condition and some even broke while being moved to check the presence of anything behind them, on July 18. Since the team only has a three-hour period to shift the containers, it plans to tape the broken wooden parts of the almirahs before taking them to the museum. They will be repaired at a later stage.