PURI: It was providential escape on Tuesday for a large number of devotees thronging the Jagannath temple here in this holy month of Kartik. A huge stone slab tumbled down from the inner roof of the arch at the western entry gate of the temple and crashed on the floor around 11.30 am. Officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) rushed in and found that two more stone slabs had loosened and were about to fall. Though some splinters hit the devotees, none was injured. The ASI officials carefully removed the stone and took immediate steps to stop further falling of the stones. As the month-long ‘Kartik brata’ is being observed, a large number of devotees are visiting the temple. In Bhubaneswar, Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said the ASI is accountable as it has been in charge of conservation of the temple for a long time. The Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary said, has written to the Union Culture Minister on the safety of the temple. According to records, since 1843 AD, stones have fallen 13 times from the main temple and other places in the complex. This twelfth century edifice is under the ASI since 1972 and it has been entrusted to preserve, conserve and bring stability to the structure. The ASI has been under the scanner of the Government over the work undertaken by it. The deplastering work of the temple had raised many questions. In 1992, a two-tonne stone artefact had tumbled from the ‘amolaka’ of the main temple and fell in the sanctum sanctorum. This was replaced by the ASI within a year. After the incident, the Puri Shankaracharya had written to then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao for his immediate intervention. Rao had assured that appropriate steps will be taken to preserve the temple. However, some experts say that the lime plaster, which is 8-inch thick, soaks up water during the monsoon at many places as a result of which its weight increases by three times. It then begins to exert pressure __ one of the reasons why stone slabs or plasters come off. The preservation work has not been easy. A complex process, experts say it involves several steps at different levels. After deplastering, saline moisture is removed by a complex cellulose pulp extraction technique. Then the carvings are cleaned up with special chemicals and loosening figures are fixed or reinforced.
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