ASI Starts Laser Scanning of Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath Temple

Puri: To assess the structural stability of the construction and to find out cracks in the walls, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) started the laser scanning of Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri on Tuesday.

On Tuesday laser scanning of the outer treasury portion of the Ratna Bhandar will be done. Laser laser scanning will be taken up for the inner treasury of the Ratna Bhandar as well as other temples on the Jagannath temple campus.

The ASI will undertake laser scanning of the outer and northern walls of the Ratna Bhandar. The northern wall is the joining point of the Ratna Bhandar with the main temple.

Through laser scanning, the ASI will document all minor and major cracks and damages in the Ratna Bhandar of the 12th-century shrine. Using the data from the laser scanning, the physical state of the Ratna Bhandar will be assessed to chalk out a plan for its repair and conservation.

According to Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Ranjan Das, the ASI will submit the laser scanning report to the SJTA for review by a team of technical experts.

Subsequently, the SJTA will draw up a plan for the repair of the Ratna Bhandar. The laser scanning of the outer treasury will be done on November 28, while the inner treasury and different Parshwa Debata temples will be scanned subsequently.

In 2018 and 2022, the ASI had written to the SJTA seeking permission to examine and conserve the Ratna Bhandar.