Now new SJTA office building under scanner, NMA asks for revised DPR

The National Monuments Authority (NMA) on Saturday raised question over the new Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) building being constructed inside the regulated area (200 mtrs) of the 12th century shrine.

As per reports, the district administration had submitted an application seeking permission for the same from the NMA under the Ancient Monument and Archeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act.

The application mentioned the height of the building as 14.5 mtrs. But as the building is being constructed inside the regulated area, the NMA members proposed to reduce the height of the building to 7.5 mtrs so that it does not over shadow the Temple.

Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi has targeted the Odisha government over the same issue. Taking to twitter, Sarangi wrote, “Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has been asked by National Monuments Authority to revise its building plan; the office structure that would have come up within 200 mts. Law has to be followed. The structural safety of our Jagannath Temple is our top priority.”

Sharat Rayaguru, a lawyer in Puri said, “The district admin neither prepared an impact assessment report nor conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPRS), but went on to construct the building.”

“The NOC, with which BJD MP Pinaki Mishra is giving a clean chit to himself and the State government, clearly mentions that the permission to construct anything in the regulated zone of the Srimandir should be sought from the ASI DG,” he added.