Bhawanipatna: Remains of an ancient temple belonging to the medieval period were retrieved Sunday during the de-silting of a pond at Dadpur village about 12km from Bhawanipatna Sadar block of Kalahandi district, sources said Sunday. As a result, District Collector P Anvesha Reddy had to issue orders to stop the work and seal the area to prevent people from barging into the site. A police team has been deployed to guard the pond while the district administration has approached the state Archaeology department to carry out research on the findings to ascertain the history of the temple. Sources claimed that the ancient remains might date back to the 11th or 12th century when the royals of the Ganga dynasty were ruling Kalahandi. The pond was being de-silted with funds sanctioned to the Dadpur panchayat by the state finance commission (SFC). A JCB excavator was being used for desilting when it suddenly got stuck in the middle of the pond. Later, laboureres were engaged to manually dig the pond leading to the discovery of the remains of the temple.
Some researchers who visited the site informed that proper excavation of the pond may lead to the discovery of some more remains of the temple. Meanwhile, villagers alleged that before the police team took charge of the pond a few people decamped with parts of the ancient temple that was unearthed.
