Tale Of Two Cities: Cuttack Spruces Up ‘History’, Bhubaneswar Demolishes It

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Cuttack/Bhubaneswar: Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium, with the historic Barabati fort in the backdrop, is looking its prettiest in recent times, ready to host the ODI series decider between India and West Indies on Sunday.
On the other hand, Cuttack’s twin city of Bhubaneswar has another tale to tell — the demolition of a police station built during the British era.

As part of the ongoing eviction drive around the 11th century Lingaraj Temple, the state government demolished the Sri Lingaraj police station, the oldest in the capital city, on Saturday.

A joint enforcement team of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the demolition in the morning and the entire structure in front of the shrine at Ekamrakshetra was razed within four hours.

The Sri Lingaraj police station was previously known as Bhubaneswar police station.

To undertake beautification project around the temple in line with the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the state government has decided to remove a number structures and vending zones.

Accordingly, the public toilet facility behind the temple was demolished two days back, while a number of street vendors around the temple complex were evicted. The government has also planned to shift the Sri Lingaraj Temple Trust Board office adjacent to the now razed police station to another location.