Tourists throng Jagannath temple as it reopened its Ratna Bhandar (Photo: PTI)

BHUBANESWAR: Reopening of Ratna Bhandar after 46 years on Sunday has reignited the controversy surrounding the missing keys after the team of govt officials and servitors had to break three locks of the inner chamber to get inside the treasury.
The disappearance of the keys came to light on April 4, 2018 when the previous govt had made an unsuccessful attempt to open the Ratna Bhandar for a structural inspection.Subsequently, two duplicate keys of the inner chamber were found. Amid public outrage, former chief minister Naveen Patnaik had on June 6, 2018 appointed a judicial commission headed by retired HC judge Raghubir Das to inquire into the missing keys.
The commission submitted its report to the govt on November 29, 2018. But the findings of the report were never made public.
Ratna Bhandar was a key poll issue of the BJP in the run-up to the elections where the party promised to open the treasury for inventory and disclose the inquiry report on its missing keys.
The Ratna Bhandar’s outer chamber has three locks, one of which remains with the Puri king, and the others with the temple administration and Bhandar Mekap (caretaker). The inner chamber has a double lock system whose keys remain in the district treasury. The team members found three locks to the inner chamber instead of two.
“After the inventory process gets over, the govt should make the inquiry commission’s findings on the missing keys public. Those who neglected Ratna Bhandar and failed to protect its keys should face action,” said Debasis Das, a senior lawyer from Puri.