The Orissa High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the Puri district Collector to submit an affidavit on the alleged sale of the Bagala Dharmasala land in Puri town within a week.
In its first hearing on the petitions filed by opposition parties, the court asked Collector Balwant Singh to clarify if the land has been sold out or not. The next hearing of the matter was scheduled for next week.Meanwhile on the day, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra filed a fresh petition in the court alleging corruption in the sale of Bagala Dharmashala land on the pretext of settling persons displaced during the demolition drive to create the heritage corridor of Shreeimandir.
He urged the court to bring back the land to the records of Lord Jagannath.Earlier, the BJP leader had stated that families of around 300 people, who were displaced during demolition drive to create the 75-metre heritage corridor around the Meghanad Prachir of the Jagannath Temple, have been allotted land in the Bagala Dharmasala premises.
Patra termed the Government’s move to bring the Dharmasala under the Revenue Department as a “conspiracy”.
He alleged that the Dharmasala land has been demarcated into 26 plots and plans are afoot to sell land to lodge owners and hoteliers.
