Bhubaneswar: In latest development to the dispute among servitor groups of Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, two Nijogs have resigned from the Lord Lingaraj Temple Trust Board.
The daily rituals of Lord Lingaraj including offering of Bhog in the temple have been disrupted for three consecutive days as Puja Panda Nijog and Brahman Nijog abstained from their duties over dispute with Badu Nijog on possession of Lord’s land.
As the presiding deity remained without food for two days, the Endowment Department convened a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue with servitor groups of the 11th-century shrine. But the meeting failed to resolve the dispute.
Puja Panda Nijog and Brahman Nijog have sent their letters of resignation from the Temple Trust Board to the Endowment Commissioner. They have stated in the letters that since the department had failed to find a solution, they had resigned from the Board. However, the two Nijogs have assured that they would continue to perform the rituals of the deities as per daily schedule.
It may be noted here that the servitors of three Nijogs were using the Lord’s land. Hearing a case filed in this regard, the Orissa High Court had ordered all Nijogs to return the disputed land. Later, the High Court allowed a market complex having 18 shops to be constructed on 2 acre of land enjoyed by Badu Nijog which has become the matter of contention.
In 2019, the Endowments Commission had stayed the construction owing to a complaint filed by the two Nijogs on the issue. The Badu Nijog had moved the Orissa High Court, which, a week back, allowed the group to resume work on the market complex on the ground that the servitors had no other source of income and also on condition that they prove ownership of the land.
