On the second day of demolition drive of the legendary Emar Mutt near the Jagannath Temple here, while the administration was in full swing for razing of unsafe structures, the mutt’s Mahant (abbot) Ramanuja Das was found to be in deep prayer for the second consecutive day behind closed doors, thereby halting the mutt eviction exercise.

Nobody was allowed to meet the Mahant for the second day. The district administration, which has readied a container for housing of the Mahant, is still in a wait. The administration had to concentrate on demolition of old structures spread over a vast area nearby The administration may try on Saturday to convince the Mahant to come to the container. “The administration has been undertaking eviction drive illegally. According the agreement, only unsafe buildings should be demolished. But they have demolished all structures, including the Raghunandan Library,” the Mahnat claimed. “I am not happy over the manner in which the administration demolished the library and other buildings,” he said.

The district administration, however, defended the demolition of the library and claimed that the facility would be relocated having a world-class makeover. “All the ancient scripts and books will be preserved and digitised using technology,” said Puri Collector Balwant Singh.

So far as a finding of a mysterious corridor stretched underground to 50 meters is concerned, the snake helpline is yet to venture into the place.  Amidst suspense of precious treasure troves existing in the a long corridor,  it was made clear that the underground rooms are nothing but paddy stores, which is seen in other monasteries also. Notably in old days, the farmers who were leased out mutt's lands for cultivation used to offer tonness of paddy and other harvests every year to the mutt and these gains were stored in the godown built underground for safety purpose.

It is observed that after an appeal to the Puri people by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the eviction drive is continuing without mass protests. The people have reposed confidence on the CM and are backing his plan of a world heritage site. A major public view in the city is that Puri needs developments. Still, there is suspense among people as to who are scheduled to lose lands, which might fall in the 75-meter area from the Jagannath Temple.