After Aparajita Sarangi, Sambit Patra Speaks Out Against Puri Heritage Corridor

New Delhi: After BJP’s Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, Sambit Patra, the party’s national spokesperson, has spoken out against the Puri Heritage Corridor Project.

Pointing to allegations of “indiscriminate digging, rules being flouted and safety of the temple being compromised”, Patra urged the Odisha government to stop all ongoing construction till further orders from the Orissa High Court, which is hearing the matter.

In a Facebook post, Patra reminded the state government of a similar slugfest when it had undertaken digging and construction around the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. He said that the BJP had protested and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had intervened, the gains of which were evident last week: when the ASI found a 1,400-year-old ‘Mahishasura Mardini’ idol during excavation in Old Town near the Lingaraj Temple. “Mahishasura Mardini idol is what Odisha gained,” he said.

He asked if something similar was happening in Puri.

While saying that the BJP was all for growth, development and the extension of facilities to the devotees of Lord Jagannath, he pointed out that the provisions of the Ancient Monuments & Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMSAR) Act 1958, which governs the ASI and protects our heritage, cannot be flouted at any cost.

He reminded that “stubbornness & arrogance only leads to destruction…never to creation”. ‘Kalapahada’ mentality will damage the rich heritage of Odisha, he said.