Puri: BJD leader and Puri MP Pinaki Mishra, who has been targeted the most by the opposition BJP over the Srimandir Heritage Corridor project, on Saturday said it was the Lord’s wish that the project should be completed and no agency can stop it.
“The heritage corridor project is the wish of the Lord, it’s the wish of the people of Puri. It’s the Lord’s wish that the area around the temple is beautified, that the work gets over at the earliest. Work is going on day and night. No one can stop it,” he said.
Talking to mediapersons, the MP said it was for the court to decide on the legalities of the project, AMASR Act and ASI’s role and, as the matter was sub-judice, it won’t be right for him to speak on it.
Targeting Mishra, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi on Friday said, “It is surprising how Puri MP Pinaki Mishra is not aware of what is going on under the project. If the local MP is in the dark, how do we expect the state’s 4.5 crore people to know the truth about the construction plans.”
Sarangi asked the Odisha government to reveal the names of the project’s architect and structural engineer.
“The work was executed in violations of AMASR Act 1958 and without conducting Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPRS) and heritage impact assessment studies. The government should tell the people of Odisha on whose suggestions the project was executed. It has already admitted its mistake by shifting the proposed reception centre from the temple’s prohibited area. The National Monuments Authority (NMA) had also written to Shree Jagannath Temple Administration asking it to reduce the height of the building,” she told the media.
