BHUBANESWAR: THE State Government has constituted a 10-member committee, headed by Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, to develop Ekamra Kshetra, the old town area near Lingaraj Temple here, as a heritage city.
Named as Ekamra Kshetra Infrastructure Development Committee, it has been asked by the State Government to prepare a comprehensive development plan for the old town area and the financial implications for the work to be undertaken. More than 500 century-old monuments and temples, including the Lingaraj temple, Rajarani Temple, Kedar Gouri Temple and Mukteswar Temple are located in the old town area.
The old town area will be developed in line with Puri where the State Government has taken up several beautification project. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced the Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage Architecture (ABADHA) Scheme and approved projects worth over `700 crore under the scheme for beautification of the city.
Other members of the committee are Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra, principal secretary in the Finance department Ashok Meena, Secretary in the Housing and Urban Development department G Mathivathanan, Secretary in the Culture department Manoranjan Panigrahy, secretary in the Tourism department Vishal Dev, Bhubaneswar Development Authority vice chairman Prem Chandra Chaudhary, Commissioner of Police Sudhansu Sarangi and CRUT managing director Arun Bothra.