BARIPADA: The Lord Nrusinghanath Jew Temple trust on Wednesday sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu for the reconstruction of the 120-year-old shrine in Bada Chhuruni village in Mayurbhanj’s Betnoti block, which was demolished by the district administration.
In a memorandum submitted to the President, the trust stated that since the demolition in June, the presiding deity has been housed in a small temporary shed covered with asbestos sheets.
Trust president Girish Chandra Biswal said the members had initially welcomed the commencement of foundation work for the new temple but were disappointed by the inordinate delay following the demolition of the old structure.
“Despite repeated meetings with the sub-collector-cum-head of the Endowments department, Betnoti BDO, other Panchayati Raj officials and the chief development officer of the District Rural Development Agency, no concrete progress has been made so far,” Biswal said.
He said he also met Baripada sub-collector Kastury Panda and apprised her of the difficulties faced by the trust, but no visible progress had been made so far. He said the trust was compelled to approach the President as devotees continued to worship the deity in the temporary shed, while annual festivals and other religious observances associated with the shrine remained affected.
Notably, the temple had been grappling with dilapidated infrastructure and a shortage of funds for years. The deteriorating condition of the temple was highlighted by TNIE on March 10, 2023, following which, the state government sanctioned `10 lakh for the temple’s development that year.
However, the construction work undertaken by the Panchayati Raj department reportedly remained incomplete. Though a grade beam was constructed outside the walls of the old temple, further work came to a halt. Later, officials directed the temple trust to shift the deity to another location to facilitate demolition of the old structure.
Following the instructions, the trust erected a temporary shed and shifted the deity there. The old temple was subsequently demolished, but construction of the proposed new shrine has remained stalled, with only foundation-related work visible at the site.
Additional chief development officer Santanu Nayak said `10 lakh had been sanctioned for the temple and assured that construction work would resume soon.
