“Bhitar Ratna Bhandar will be opened soon…”: Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 16 (ANI): Odisha Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Tuesday said that the first part of opening the ‘Bahar Ratna Bhandar’ is completed and all ornaments have been shifted to the Treasury.

Speaking to ANI, Harichandan said that the ‘Bhitar Ratna Bhandar’ will be opened soon.

“As per Standard Operating Procedure, the entire activity of opening Ratna Bhandar was divided into three parts. The first part of opening the ‘Bahar Ratna Bhandar’ is completed and all ornaments have been shifted to the Treasury. The ‘Bhitar Ratna Bhandar’ will be opened soon. In between, ASI, will take care of the repair work in Ratna Bhandar. After the repair is done, the ASI will hand over the things to the Temple administration,” Harichandan told ANI.

“The articles of the Ratna Bhandar will be shifted back and counting will be done. We are involving the Reserve Bank of India in the counting process to maintain transparency. The entire process will be videographer,” he added.

Earlier on July 14, the Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannatha Temple Office, Arabinda Kumar Padhee said that all the valuables from the outer Bhandar were shifted to the temporary strong room.

“Ratna Bhandar of the Shree Jagannatha Temple in Puri was opened today. The outer Ratna Bandar was opened in the beginning. All the valuables were shifted to the temporary strong room. Thereafter, we opened the inner Ratna Bhandar as well. As per the SOP, we broke open the lock of the inner Ratna Bhandar then all the members went around the inner store of valuables. The videography recordings are only for our record purposes, not for any publicity or any media purpose,” Padhee said.

The ‘Ratna Bhandar’ (treasure trove) of the Shri Jagannath Temple has finally been opened after more than four decades on Sunday.

The Ratna Bhandar of the Shri Jagannath Temple was opened following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Odisha government. The Odisha government approved the opening of the Ratna Bhandar after carrying out the inventorization of valuables, including pieces of jewellery stored there.

Special boxes were also brought to Shri Jagannath Temple ahead of the re-opening of ‘Ratna Bhandar’ (Treasure Trove).