Emar Mutt Chief Resents Demolition Of Raghunandan Library

THEN & NOW: Emar Mutt

Puri: The mahant of Emar Mutt, Rajgopal Ramanuj Das, on Friday expressed resentment over the demolition of the Raghunandan Library on the mutt premises as part of the demolition of the 12^th century monastery by the district administration.

The mahant said the district administration had held a meeting with him earlier on the demolition of the mutt.

“During the meeting, I had told the administration to go for partial demolition of the unused and unsafe portions of the mutt building and construction of new structures in those places for the convenience of the people,” Das said.

He, however, claimed that there was no discussion on the demolition of the library. “The district administration had neither informed me about the demolition of the library nor taken prior permission in this regard. We had recently repaired the library by investing over lakhs of rupees with the prior permission of the district administration. I am deeply hurt by the unilateral decision of the administration in the demolition of the century-old library,” he added.