Bhubaneswar: The Suar-Mahasuar servitors of Jagannath temple at Odisha's Puri town have threatened to stop cooking Mahaprasad citing losses due to delay in rituals at the 12^th century shrine.

Members of the Suar-Mahasuar Nijog today held a demonstration in front of the Lions’ Gate of temple and claimed that they had incurred huge losses due to delay in the rituals of the presiding deities on February 28.

The Suar-Mahasuar Nijog has urged the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to take disciplinary action against the servitors responsible for delay in the rituals.

The servitors sought Rs 25 lakh as compensation

Besides, the Nijog sought Rs 25 lakh as compensation from the temple administration. The agitating servitors threatened to stop cooking Mahaprasad if the temple authorities do not fulfill their demands within seven days.

Rituals of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra were delayed for several hours on February 28 due to a dispute over special privilege for the VIPs at the shrine.

The temple authorities reportedly allowed the VIPs to have a darshan of the presiding deities through ‘Jay-Vijay’ Dwar. This special arrangement for a select few invited protests from several quarters.

The delay in the rituals caused inconvenience to the devotees as they were forced to wait for over four hours to get Mahaprasad.