BALASORE: Members of the Raibania Fort Development Committee (RFDC) have sought the intervention of the State government for the protection of around 74-acre land belonging to Raibania fort under the Jaleswar constituency from encroachment.
Members of RFDC and locals raised the issue before Tourism Minister Aswini Kumar Patra during a meeting which was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Madhusudan Padhi, officials of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Tourism and Culture department.
RFDC president Brijesh Kumar Rana said restoration of the fort has been delayed due to encroachment of vast patches of land around it.
The ASI and Tourism and Culture department started the restoration work of the fort in January 2021. But reportedly owing to a lack of coordination between departments, unscheduled power cuts, inadequate water supply and rains, restoration of the fort and Jagannath and Shiva temples on its premises has been delayed.
The members of the committee said at least 72-acre land belongs to the fort and 2.62 acres to Goddess Gada Chandi. Large patches of the fort land have been encroached upon by some locals.
The Tourism Minister said a master plan will be prepared for the protection and development of the fort. Discussions were held on ways to complete the restoration of the fort and address the issue of encroachment. This apart, it was decided that the Odisha Institute of South Asian Studies will be given the responsibility of conducting research on the fort.
As per official reports, 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 the panchayat fund, Rs 16 lakh from the Zilla Parishad fund and Rs 15 lakh from the Tourism and Culture department.
Around Rs 15 lakh was sanctioned for the construction of an entry gate to the fort in 2019-20. However, the funds remain unutilised. 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.