NMA Suggests 7.5 Metres, SJTA Wants 12.19-Metre-Tall Office Building In Puri

Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has written to Odisha’s Culture Department, saying that the original height of 12.19 metres proposed for the SJTA office building in the ‘regulated’ zone of the Jagannath Temple should be retained. The proposed SJTA office building is part of the Puri Heritage Corridor.

The SJTA wrote to the state Culture Department after the National Monuments Authority (NMA) sought a revised plan for its office building in the ‘regulated’ zone by restricting its height to 7.5 metres. The NMA asked the SJTA to submit a revised application for ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) through the competent authority for its consideration.

The NMA made the recommendation at a meeting held in New Delhi on September 9, where it gave NOCs and recommendations for various developmental activities proposed by the Odisha government in the ‘protected’ and ‘regulated’ zones of centrally protected monuments in Puri (where work is underway on the Shree Mandira Parikrama project), Bhubaneswar and Konark.

SJTA chief administrator (development) Ajay Jena said the NMA had earlier accorded permission for a 12.19-metre-tall office building.

“We want permission for the previously proposed height of the building, for which we have written to the Culture Department,” Jena told mediapersons.

“The Culture Department is our competent authority, which will recommend our proposal to the NMA. We are hopeful of receiving the NOC,” he said.

In the September 9 meeting, the NMA also gave its NOC for construction of the reception centre of the Shree Mandira Parikrama project in the ‘regulated’ zone instead of the ‘prohibited’ zone, while restricting its height to 7.5 metres instead of 12.19 metres, as planned originally.

While granting NOC, the NMA directed that the reception centre should be built in the ‘regulated’ zone at a distance of 101.5 metres from the Jagannath Temple with a height of 7.5 metres as a G+1 structure.

It was originally proposed in the ‘prohibited’ zone as a G+2 structure with a height of 12.19 metres.