Centrally-protected Chudanga Gada Fort located on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar near Baranga is in ruins. The ancient fort is not only in a dilapidated condition, rather land mafias and the State government have allegedly been encroaching upon the monument area covering 1260 acres of land.
While land mafias have allegedly encroached around 12 acres of land, a State government department has been allegedly constructing infrastructure illegally by encroaching upon a huge portion of the land in the area. The development has prompted the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to file cases at Chandaka Police Station.
Though the eighteenth-century fort built by the Ganga dynasty is in a dilapidated state, the huge wall having a width of 15ft is a silent witness of the ancient monument which once existed at the place. However, the wall has been largely damaged. Though 1260 acres of land around the area have been centrally protected by the ASI, the plotting of around 12 acres of land by land mafias for sale and the ongoing construction work by the State government has irked local residents and intellectuals across the State. They have expressed their dissatisfaction over the development.
“The State government and the Union government should jointly take steps to transform the spot into a heritage place so that tourists across the globe can visit the spot. The ancient monument should be renovated for the upcoming generation,” said Niranjan Sahu, a local resident.
“There were 16 beautiful houses at the spot. However, those houses have been destroyed. Only the 25 ft-high wall is in existence now,” said Lalit Mohan Panda, another local resident.
ASI registered the cases recently alleging that a large portion of the ancient rare heritage site has been encroached on by land mafias.
Moreover, the Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) has allegedly encroached upon some parts of the ancient fort and constructed an academic block and a hostel. The Department is constructing multi-storey buildings and a huge wall at the spot.
The SSEPD department has gone ahead with construction work despite being told by the ASI that it amounts to a violation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act). In a letter written on May 2, ASI informed the Department that the construction, despite being welfare work, is against the law.
However, as work did not stop, it wrote another letter to the department on July 18 asking it to abide by the AMASR norms failing which action will be initiated under the act.
“We have filed complaints in this regard at Chandaka Police Station. We have also written letters and discussed with some State government authorities in this connection to protect the monument,” said GB Gadanayak, Archaeology Superintendent of ASI.
“In the first phase, the land mafias were leveling the land for plotting. Then they will make roads, houses, and resorts. It is a protected area and they must be arrested for illegal work. But there is a question mark on enforcement as the State government had destroyed 22 mutts in the past,” said historian Anil Dhir.
No reaction could be obtained from the concerned govt department in this regard.