BARIPADA: Officials of the Endowments department and Baripada municipality on Wednesday began demarcation of land around Hemsagar Pokhari, the century-old pond used for rituals of the Trinity at Haribaldevjew temple. Around 10 officials along with the Master of Engineer (ME) of the civic body supervised the work in the presence of servitors and locals.
This comes after district administration directed Baripada Sub-Collector-cum-Endowments officer Anya Das to clearly demarcate the land in the name of the pond which is in midst of illegal encroachments. Math Mandir Surakshya Samiti, Congress district OBC cell and Human Rights Youth Welfare and Development Committee of India’s Odisha unit had raised allegations of sub-standard restoration work on it without demarcation of tangible land.
Based on a petition filed by a servitor of Haribaldevjew temple Kameswar Tripathy on January 3, 2022, office of the Additional Assistant Commissioner of Endowments, Cuttack sought an explanation from Sub-Collector Das on how the pond land was converted under the name of Baripada municipality when the previous record showed registration in the name of Haribaldevjew temple.
Land measuring officer (Amina) Manoranjan Behera said that the department has marked the land and wet land (jalasaya) and complete demarcation will be carried out again on February 14.