PURI: Lawyers of Puri Bar Association on Saturday marched to Puri Konark Development Authority (PKDA) protesting against the district administration’s move to allot plots at Bagala Dharmasala site to hoteliers and those who were evicted for heritage corridor project.
The district administration demolished structures within 75-metre radius of Meghanad Prachir of Jagannath temple for the heritage corridor project. The lawyers opposed the layout plan of the Bagala Dharmasala complex, prepared by Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation (OBCC) and submitted recently to PKDA for approval.
They pointed out that while there was enough Government land available in important places of the town, they saw no reason as to why Bagala Dharmasala should be allotted for the project.
“While the owners of Bagala Dharmasala reposed faith in the Collector and handed the site over to him to ensure its smooth functioning, the latter had no right to change its legal status,” they said.
Lawyer Binayak Mohanty said the Supreme Court, in its interim judgment, had asked the administration to create provisions for shelter for 60,000 devotees in the city and since Bagala Dharmasala is the only facility providing services to economically backward devotees to perform religious services, then why it is being handed over to the hoteliers.
“We will take up this issue to the apex court if the development authority approves the layout plan,” he said. Environmentalist Jagannath Bastia also filed written objections to the OBCC proposal on various grounds.