BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, July 10, 2015 (Niti Central): Barely a week before the Nabakalebara Rath Jatra of Lord Jagannath gets underway, Shankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalananda Saraswati today blamed the chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration for the mismanagement in the 12th century shrine. “I hold Shree Jagannath Temple Administration’s chief administrator responsible for all the chaos in the temple. He is responsible for irregularities from the selection of Daru (neem tree) for making new statues of the Lords to the Brahma Paribartan rituals,” Saraswati told a hurriedly-convened press conference here.
Coming down heavily on the state government for the Nabakalebara rituals mess, the seer demanded complete overhaul of the temple laws. “Chaos prevails in the Jagannath temple and the rituals are not being followed properly. The government doesn’t have the right to interfere in the religious affairs of the temple. There is a need to overhaul the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) laws,” the Shankaracharya said. “The government should act as a facilitator and nothing more,” he said.