Puri: Priyadarshan Patnaik, the convenor of a Puri based outfit, Jagannath Sena on Sunday alleged that Odisha government has stolen the properties of Lord Jagannath by clandestinely transferring it to its ownership.
Patnaik lambasted Odisha government while addressing a press conference here in the pilgrim town on Sunday. "Everybody should know about the huge scam that the Odisha government is involved in. In the latest land records, the state government has been mentioned as the King, while Lord Jagannath is mentioned as the subject of King (Govt). And the most ridiculous part is, the SJTA has been mentioned as the father of the subject (Lord Jagannath)," stated Patnaik.
As per Patnaik, in 2015, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of Lord Jagannath while bringing all properties including Mutts and thousands of acres of land under his ownership. The ruling restricted anybody including the government from selling the land of the Lord. So the government clandestinely transferred considerable proportion of the lands to its ownership and illegally sold it to corporate earning huge kick backs in the process. Hence the new land record that makes the government King and Lord Jagannath its subject.
Alleging huge corruption and illegal land sales by the state government officials and ruling party leaders, Patnaik said, "The 11 acres of land on which the Malati Patapur bus terminus stands is worth a minimum Rs 44 crores, but the government gave it at approximately Rs 2 Crore. Similarly the 25 acres land meant for Medical College is valued at Rs 75 Crore, but they gave it at a paltry Rs 2 crore."
"While the Shabik records portrayed the map of Srimandir, the Hal records do not specify the temple anywhere in the map," said Patnaik.
"The Additional Collector, Tehsildar, RI, Amin, from top to bottom, are all involved in gulping down of Lord Jagannath's property," he said.
"Naveen Patnaik does not have any respect for Lord Jagannath, otherwise a devotee can never cheat his lord," said Patnaik.