Bhubaneswar: A delegation of servitors from Puri Lord Jagannath Temple, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra met Union Culture Minister Prahalad Singh Patel and thanked him for withdrawing contentious Heritage by-laws for Puri Srimandir.
The Union Ministry of Culture on Monday had directed the National Monument Authority (NMA) to withdraw the draft notification for the proposed heritage by-laws for the 12th-century shrine after a team of BJP MPs from Odisha led by Dharmendra Pradhan met him stressing for removal of the bylaws.
Moreover, a team of BJD MPs also met Patel separately yesterday seeking his intervention in the withdrawal of the contentious Heritage By-laws.
Following the separate meetings with the BJP and BJD MPs, the Union Culture Minister, in a tweet, stated that he has directed NMA authorities to withdraw the draft notification for the contentious bylaws. The Minister added that the draft notification was issued without the knowledge of chairperson of the NMA.
Earlier on Monday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had demanded withdrawal of the notification for the proposed bylaws during his visit to Puri.
Patnaik who took his first visit of the temple after it reopened for visitors last month, said that no one could stop development works around the 12th century shrine as part of the Government’s heritage corridor project.
“The Central Government should remove the heritage bylaws. No one can stop good works of the Lords,” Patnaik had said.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)