BALASORE: The restoration work of the historic Raibania fort in Jaleswar block seems to be making little headway with land encroachment continuing to be a major roadblock.
Besides, lack of coordination between various departments, unseasonal rains, unscheduled power cuts and poor water supply are also affecting the work, that started in January this year by the State Archaeology under the Culture department.
Sources said that within the fort, 2.62 acre land of Gada Chandi and a large portion of 72 acre land belonging to the garrison have been encroached upon by locals over the years.
The 11th century fort has three gates - Singhadwar (east), Hatidwara (west) and Sunamukhidwar (south) with several structural remains of the Gada Chandi temple, observation towers and more than 50 water bodies. Presently, the reconstruction of the Jagannath and Shiva temples are on.
While two of the gates are in ruins due to poor maintenance, the reconstruction of the two temples is also making tardy progress.
As per data available, around Rs 1.31 crore has been sanctioned for the fort's development including Rs 50 lakh under National Rurban Mission (NRuM), Rs 50 lakh from Panchayat fund, Rs 16 lakh from Zilla Parishad fund and Rs 15 lakh from Tourism and Culture departments.
Expressing displeasure, the members of the Raibania Fort Development Committee (RDC) and Raibania Durga Surakshya Committee (RDSC) said there are two committees besides the district administration, the Tourism and Culture departments which are connected with the fort work but the responsibilities are not clearly defined by the State government.
President of RDC Brijesh Kumar Rana said, administrative apathy has led to encroachment and poor maintenance of the fort which played an important role in thwarting invaders in the State's history.
Commenting on the fort renovation status, Jaleswar MLA Aswini Patra said a meeting with Tourism and Culture Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi and other department officials was held on September 9. "The department sanctioned Rs 25 lakh for an entry gate to the fort and another Rs 25 lakh for other development activities. Besides, the district administration has been directed to immediately utilise Rs 15 lakh given by the department in 2019-20 for the purpose," he said.