Bhubaneswar: The Opposition parties in Odisha on Sunday came down heavily on the State government over depositing Rs 545 crore funds belonging to Lord Jagannath in the crisis-hit Yes Bank.
Addressing a presser here, State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan alleged that the parking of the funds in the cash-starved Yes Bank which has been placed under a 30-day moratorium period indicates that there was a conspiracy to swindle the Srimandir funds.
“As per the development commission 2017 report, a decision was taken to keep the funds of the Lord Jagannath in 25 banks. At that time, Yes Bank was not in the list. Later, in July 2019, Yes Bank was included in the list and the funds were deposited,” Harichandan said.
“It clearly indicates that there was a conspiracy to embezzle the funds of Lord Jagannath,” he added.
He questioned whether the endowment department or the concerned minister will now take responsibility.
The saffron party leader demanded White Paper on the matter, impartial probe into the case and exemplary punishment against those who are responsible for the parking of the funds.
Similarly, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee(OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik lashed out at the State government on the issue.
“Who has given the rights to the concerned authorities to deposit the funds in the Yes Bank while there are strict guidelines to transfer the funds in a nationalised bank,” Patnaik questioned.
“Since the missing of keys of Ratna Bhandar, I repeatedly said that the property of Lord Jagannath is unsafe and demanded that the State government should make statement that the Lord’s wealth is safe. Two years have gone by, but the State government has not made any clarification. And now the Yes Bank issue has created further uncertainty over the funds,” the OPCC president said.
He further questioned whether the motive of keeping the funds in Yes Bank was to earn commissions.
Responding to the allegations, Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) minister Ashok Panda said, “As the RBI has intervened in the matter, there is no possibility of loss of funds.”
State Finance Secretary Ashok Kumar Meena also said, “The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has written to the RBI and we have also spoken to the central bank in this regard. The RBI has said that the money of all the depositors is safe.”
In the latest development, State Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging her to direct RBI authorities to allow withdrawal of the deposits from Yes Bank.