BJP leader alleges misappropriation in Puri temple Corpus fund

Puri: Senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra today alleged that around a hundred out of Rs 322 crore of the temple corpus fund has been misappropriated and held the Puri temple and district administration responsible for this.

Mohapatra said the accountant general's audit report reveals large-scale irregularities in the temple corpus fund and the audit has not been conducted completely.

The accountant general had given the audit report regarding temple management to the temple administration and law department of the state on December 21, 2015.

Alleging the irregularities in the corpus fund, Mohapatra said, “On examination of investment files and deposits of corpus fund file, imprudent investments of the corpus fund were noticed leading to loss of crores of rupees. Out of Rs 322 crore of the corpus fund, nearly Rs 100 crore has been misappropriated in corruptions. The audit report itself states that the Collector irregularly is getting paid with huge amounts. In matters of land trading and construction of bus stops there are allegations against the Collector himself.”

He pointed out that the sketches of the miscreants are posted labelling them as terrorists but least has been done to label the culprits involved in financial corruption and stealing in crores from fund. He further alleged that the officials involved in the corpus corruption are culprits of temple as well as state administration.

Legislator Amar Sathpathy said, “I have heard through media sources and the information about corpus fund is yet to be clarified. As the report is from an audit conducted, its live forum is under Public Accounts Committee and the committee will investigate into the matter.”