Puri feast cancelled

Bhubaneswar, June 20: The community feast in Puri for 1.5 lakh devotees to be organised on June 27 to mark the 13th day of the burial of the old idols of Lord Jagannath and His siblings has been cancelled. This is apparently the fallout of the differences among the servitors following the delay in soul transfer of the deities in the temple. Instead, the temple administration would feed only a limited number of devotees, and that too, on the temple premises, instead of organising it in front the main gate of the shrine as planned earlier. According to an announcement made by the temple administration on June 12, the community feast was scheduled to be organised by the servitors' association (Daitapati Niyog) in front of the temple with Mahaprasad (cooked food of the Lord) to be fed to the people. The temple administration had also announced to lend its support to the programme and appealed the devotees to donate money for the cause. However, following differences among the servitors in the wake of soul transfer of the deities and with political parties targeting the government, the association backed out of the plan. President of the Daitapati Niyog Association Rama Krushna Das Mohapatra said: "There will be no community feast. It will be organised only for a limited number of people on the temple premises." Though Das Mohapatra cited bad weather as the reason for cancelling the feast, a senior servitor, on the conditions of anonymity, said: "As our differences had snowballed into a major issue following the delay in transfer of souls, the temple administration decided not to support the programme. As a result, the association has no option but to back out of the programme." However, the temple administration, which is facing the heat following its failure to do the rituals on time, has so far refrained from making any announcement in this regard. Public relations officer of the temple Laxmidhara Pujapanda said: "I have no information so far." Chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration Suresh Chandra Mohapatra today met law minister Arun Sahu and briefed him about the problems that had led to the delay in the transfer of souls. After the meeting, Mohapatra said: "We have already served notices to the servitors. Any servitor wishing to record his statement could do so in person or in writing. Their testimonies will be kept secret." At Puri, the second co-ordination committee on the car festival was organised under the chairmanship of revenue divisional commissioner (central division), today. The meeting witnessed heated exchanges among servitors over the issue of soul transfer http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150621/jsp/frontpage/story_26932.jsp#.VYdMY1Lt3d4 .