The Puri temple administration on Monday deferred a decision to enhance fees of pramanik tickets at the 12th century Jagannath temple, following oppositions from sevayats and servitors.
Pramanik tickets are sold to devotees for a close darshan of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Maa Subhadara (sister), deities at various intervals of the day.
With the tickets, devotees can touch the mandaps (ratna singhasan) in which the deities are seated.
Two days back, the temple administration announced a hike in the prices of tickets from Rs25 to Rs100 and from Rs5 to Rs25, with effect from Monday.
A section of the servitor community on Monday refused to discharge daily duties in protest. Daily rituals of the deities were delayed for nearly 10 hours and devotees were unable to get prasad on time.
Some sevayats forcibly entered the temple office and demanded that the hike be cancelled.
Priyadarshan Patnnaik, the Jaganath Sena convener, working for the protection of interests of devotees, said the agitation would be intensified if the rates were not rolled back. “The poor will not be able to see the gods from close by,” Patnaik said.
Former law minister Biswa Bhusan Harichandan announced support for the agitation and urged the district and Puri temple administrations to desist from hiking the fees.
Puri district collector Fakir Charan Satpathy convened a meeting at the temple, where it was decided to stall the fee hike for now.
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