Puri Heritage Corridor: VHP-Backed Outfit Says Poses Grave Risk To Temple, Calls For Expert Panel

Puri: A VHP-backed organisation on Saturday said that the Puri Heritage Corridor project posed a “grave threat” to the structural stability of the 12th-century temple and demanded that all construction activities at the site be “immediately” stopped, a PTI report said. It said an expert committee should be set up for its scientific evaluation.

Alleging that the Odisha government was implementing the project in violation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, the VHP-backed Sri Mandira Suraksha Abhiyana (SMSA) also urged the Centre to intervene in the matter.

“Implementation of the Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor project in Odisha is posing a grave threat to the structural stability of the ancient temple. We demand that all ongoing activities be immediately stopped at the site and an expert committee be set up to evaluate the risks that the project poses to the ancient temple,” SMSA spokesperson Anil Dhir told PTI.

He said a five-member delegation of the SMSA had on Friday called on Union Culture Minister G Krishna Reddy and gave a memorandum, apprising him of the “irregularities” in the execution of the project.

Dhir said the SMSA delegation also met the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Chairman of the National Monuments Authority.

“The temple is already in a dilapidated condition. Implementation of the project without a scientific evaluation of its impact on the structural stability of the temple may lead to a colossal imminent mishap,” he told PTI.

“If the expert committee after its evaluation says that the implementation of the project would not cause any damage to the temple, they (state government) can go ahead with its plan. We won’t have any problem then,” he added.