Police conduct flag march to restore peace at Jagannath temple in Puri

October 3, 2018 Crime

Puri: The Odisha police conducted a flag march to restore peace after violence erupted at the Jagannath temple in protest against the introduction of a queue system for darshan of deities on Wednesday.

The police conducted flag march on Grand Road in Puri to restore peace in the area.

Earlier today, law and order situation deteriorated over the introduction of the queue system for darshan at Srimandir.

During a dawn-to-dusk bandh call given by socio-cultural organisation Jagannath Sena, the protesters attempted to barge into the 12th-century shrine, uprooted the barricades erected near the temple and ransacked the office of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).

They also ransacked the house of local MLA and Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty. They also hurled stones at Puri SP Sarthak Sarangi’s official residence.

“It’s not at all proper for anyone to indulge in violence inside the temple or to break the barricades. The district administration has decided to hold a peace committee meeting to resolve the issue”, said IGP Soumendra Priyadarshi.

He said police never adopted a confrontational approach.

Notably, police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas to disperse the mob on the grand road.

District Collector Jyoti Prakash Das said they will review the queue system.

The devotees and locals are opposing the queue system, which was implemented for the first time on an experimental basis on October 1.