In an unexpected turn of events, the District Administration of Puri has refilled a pit dug for construction under the Srimandir Parikrama Project on Friday.
The pit was dug after demolishing the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration office on the Grand Road near the temple.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been protesting the construction terming the project as illegal has grabbed the opportunity to criticise the State government once again.
Targeting the Odisha government over the Srimandir Parikrama Project, General Secretary of Odisha BJP, Prithviraj Harichandan has said the decision was wrong all along and the State government should clarify its stand on the whole fiasco.
Harichandan was addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar when he fired a salvo at the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ruled Odisha government who is under fire from both BJP and Congress over its alleged flouting of ASI norms in the construction of the project.
“What BJD MP Pinaki Mishra told the Lok Sabha regarding the issue was wrong. The State government is committing a grave mistake and it should clarify the reason behind the attempt to weaken the foundation of the Srimandir by digging pits near it,” he said.
Similarly, Congress MLA, Tara Prasad Bahinipati slammed both the BJD and the BJP accusing them of doing politics in the name of Lord Jagannath. Speaking to OTV, Bahinipati said, “It is wrong to play dirty politics in the name of Lord Jagannath.”
“If they had dug up the soil near Srimandir for construction and did not find any problems in it then why did they refill it.” he asked.
Meanwhile, Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly, Surjya Narayan Patro said that a meeting of the Srimandir House Committee will be called soon to discuss the Parikrama Project. The 8-member Committee was formed on March 31 under the Chairmanship of the Speaker which includes Debi Prasad Mishra, Narasingh Mishra, Jayanta Sarangi, Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Pratap Jena, Bikram Arukh and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.