BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Sunday came down heavily on the State government for alleged illegal construction on land belonging to Lingaraj temple.
State BJP president Samir Mohanty said construction on the temple land is being carried out near the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) which is not far from the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The State government cannot deny that the illegal construction is being done without its knowledge. "Any construction within the city limits is not possible without the approval of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). It is for the BDA to explain how such illegal activities are going on and who gave permission for the same," he asked.
Mohanty said 18 acre of temple land was vested with the General Administration department in 1986 and the Orissa High Court in 2015 had ordered recording back a portion of the land (2.865 acre) near the BPIA in the name of the temple trust.
The temple land was illegally sold to a big real estate company for construction of a luxury hotel. The court had ordered that the proposed luxury hotel on the temple land is fallacious and has no legal sanction because the State government does not have any legal power to do so.
Mohanty said the two-and-a-half acre land on which construction activities were stopped by the local administration is close to the plot where the luxury hotel was coming up. This clearly shows the government is fully aware of the illegal transaction of the temple land which has been converted to 'gharabari'.
"Even the land of Lord Lingaraj and Lord Jagannath is not safe under the BJD government," Mohanty alleged and urged the government to take prompt action to recover all the temple land which are under unauthorised occupation.
Referring to a December 2021 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the BJP leader said only 31.556 acre out of 1523.879 acre of the immovable property of Lingaraj temple across the State is under the actual possession of the temple trust.
The executive officer of Lingaraj temple had informed the auditors that 36.370 acre out of 69.423 acre land in Bhubaneswar is under encroachment.