Cuttack, Nov 25: Unable to witness the darshan of Lord Dhabaleswar due to an ongoing dispute between the administration and priests, numerous devotees, who had queued up since early morning for a glimpse of the deity, took matters into their own hands. On the occasion of Bada Osha, thousands of devotees broke open the temple door and offered prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum.

The conflict arose when the priests' samiti decided to keep the temple closed in protest of the administration's decision to install barricades outside the temple on Friday, the second day of Panchaka, to manage the crowd. The servitors expressed their disagreement by locking the temple door, leading to a standoff.

Despite multiple meetings between the administration and protesting priests, including discussions with Cuttack Collector, Athagarh sub-collector, SP, and other senior officers late into the night, a resolution remained elusive. While the priests conducted morning rituals inside the temple, they prohibited devotees from entering and offering prayers. Frustrated by the situation, devotees eventually broke the temple door to gain access to Lord Dhabaleswar.

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