BJP, Cong attack Odisha govt over missing keys of ‘Ratna Bhandar’

The BJP and the Congress separately demanded that the Biju Janata Dal government in Odisha open the ‘Ratna Bhandar’ of the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, and make public the report of a judicial commission formed to probe into the issue of missing keys of the 12th-century shrine’s treasury.
The demands were raised on Thursday, two days after the Orissa High Court asked the state government to file its response by July 10 on a petition praying for making public the report of Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Inquiry on the missing Ratna Bhandar keys.
“The judicial panel submitted its report to the state government in November 2018, about five years ago. The government has not taken any action on it and kept it in cold storage,” BJP spokesperson Pitamber Acharya said.
If the government believes in transparency, the judicial commission report should be made public without further delay, senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said.
The ruling BJD in a statement said the Ratna Bhandar was not opened for 38 years since 1985 and the opposition should refrain from indulging in politics in the name of Lord Jagannath.
The Ratna Bhandar, located in the basement of the temple, has two parts. The outer chamber of the Ratna Bhandar stores ornaments used by the deities on a daily basis, while many pieces of jewellery are kept in the inner chamber of the treasury.
While the keys to the outer chamber are available, the keys to the inner chamber are missing. Acharya said the people have serious doubts about the assertion made by the government for the last five years that it has a duplicate key.
An attempt was made to open the inner chamber of ‘Ratna Bhandar’ in April 2018 following a directive of the Orissa High Court, but it was not successful as keys were not found at that time. A team, comprising ASI officials, priests and others, then carried out an inspection from outside.