BHUBANESWAR: Amid the ongoing controversy over construction work just outside the Jagannath Temple as part of the Heritage Corridor Project, BJP MP from Bhubaneswar Aparajita Sarangi said the local office of the Archaeological Survey of India in Puri in February asked the state government to stop construction work in the vicinity of the 12th-century temple.
Citing a letter by ASI’s conservation assistant in Puri to the Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation (OBCC), which is undertaking the digging close to the boundary wall of the temple, Sarangi said any type of excavation and construction is totally prohibited within 100 metres from a monument and permission is needed for such activity 100-200 metres from an archaeological structure.
Sarangi said the ASI asked OBCC to show if it has the requisite approvals under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act) and made it clear that the corporation should stop all activity in the absence of permissions.
Odisha chief secretary Suresh Mohapatra, however, said all work around the Jagannath temple was being executed in close coordination with ASI. “The Srimandir Heritage Corridor project is being undertaken for the benefit of lakhs of devotees. I don’t think there is any threat to the temple,” said the chief secretary.
Last week, a war of words broke out between Sarangi and Puri MP Pinaki Mishra in Lok Sabha with the latter claiming that a No Objection Certificate has been issued by the National Monument Authority (NMA) to the state government on September 4 last year for construction of a cloakroom, shelter pavilion and toilets within the prohibited 75-metre zone of Jagannath Temple in Puri. However, Sarangi said that the letter being shown as support of the project is a letter by the NMA and not a no objection certificate, or NOC.
{{/usCountry}}Last week, a war of words broke out between Sarangi and Puri MP Pinaki Mishra in Lok Sabha with the latter claiming that a No Objection Certificate has been issued by the National Monument Authority (NMA) to the state government on September 4 last year for construction of a cloakroom, shelter pavilion and toilets within the prohibited 75-metre zone of Jagannath Temple in Puri. However, Sarangi said that the letter being shown as support of the project is a letter by the NMA and not a no objection certificate, or NOC.
{{/usCountry}}“The format of NOC is different and it will contain a plan, elevation and several other details,” she said.
Meanwhile, the eight-member panel of Odisha Assembly formed to inspect the construction work around the temple and assess its possible impact on the monument will meet for the first time on Tuesday.