Puri: Work to rejuvenate Musa river and beautify its surroundings in Odisha’s pilgrim town of Puri seems to have made little progress due to large scale encroachment and illegal construction of buildings.
While researchers and experts voiced concern over tardy progress in the project to revive the heritage river, which has virtually become dead, mainly due to delay in land acquisition, officials maintained that work in the first phase is going on in full swing.
While the government has decided to spend Rs 250 crore for the beautification of Musa riverfront under the Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) scheme, experts claimed that the river is fast disappearing and losing its identity due to land mafia.
The blueprint of the first phase development of the river was prepared long ago Atharnala bridge, which serves as the entry point to the seaside town of Puri, is situated over Musa river. The entire project has been designed on the lines of Kalinga architectural style.
Crores of rupees have already been spent in the name of rejuvenating the river, but nothing concrete has been achieved so far, noted lawyer Sarat Rajguru alleged, demanding a probe into the money spent on the project so far.
Voicing similar views, Convenor of Shree Jagannath Parishad, Suryanarayan Rath alleged that officials and contractors are misusing the money meant for the project. He urged the government to keep a vigil and take concrete steps to accelerate the work for the revival of the river.
Stating that the Puri district administration needs to acquire over 46 acre of land from private owners for the beautification project, they said only one third of the required land has been so far acquired.
The beautification plan is a part of the development project to transform Puri into an international heritage destination. Under the project, Musa river will be illuminated and have boating facilities to attract tourists.
The widening of the sacred river, which is fast disappearing due to encroachment and unauthorised construction, will also help in drainage of rainwater from the town, said researcher S N Rathasharma.
“The government should take immediate steps to remove unauthorised structures and clear the river channels blocked due to encroachment,” he said.
Expressing satisfaction over progress in the project, Puri Collector Samarth Verma said first phase of work, which is progressing very well, is likely to be completed within six months.
There are some issues relating to encroachment, but the administration is taking appropriate steps to resolve those, he said.
Widening and dredging work on a stretch of 3.2 km in the first phase is in progress and another 7 km will be taken up in the second phase, said senior official of Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation (OBCC), Sundar Padhi.
