Bhubaneswar: Amidst a statewide outcry over the proposed plans of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to build a second Jagannath Temple in Puri, the state government Wednesday ordered an administrative probe into the matter.
Sources in the CM’s Office said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday asked the Central Revenue Divisional Commission to conduct a probe and submit its inquiry report within 60 days. The report will be placed before the state government by April 10.
The issue cropped up when the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) January 18 alleged Iskcon was planning to build a grand Jagannath temple over an area of 52,000 square feet, to rival the world-famous Jagannath temple. The party claimed that Iskcon had even requested the Puri-Konark Development Authority for approval.
Though Iskcon admitted to owning 15 acres of land in Puri, it denied any plans of building a second Jagannath temple and clarified that of the total land, only one acre will be used for construction of a temple, library, kitchen, prayer hall and other tourist amenities. “While Srimandir is over 200 feet tall, our proposed Radha-Krishna temple will be much smaller in size. It will be only 32 feet tall,” an Iskcon spokesman had said.
Earlier, the state government Jaunary 19 had asked the Puri district collector, who is also vice-chairman of Puri-Konark Development Authority (PKDA), to look into the issue and submit a report in this regard.
Housing and urban development secretary G Mathivathanan after receiving a report from PKDA had earlier stated approval has been given only for setting up of an institutional complex of Iskcon.
Though the society had requested for G+6 (seven-storey) building, approval was given to construct G+2 (three-storey) building at the proposed site, he had said. PNN
