The Development Authority (BDA) seems to be trying its best to save Bhubaneswar BJD MP Prasanna Patsani’s Bajrangwali Mutt, popularly called Patsani Mutt, from demolition.
As per the BDA’s standard operating procedures, an eviction notice is served to the encroachers and the demolition follows after 24 hours irrespective of the hue and cry by the encroachers. However, the BDA has strangely deviated from its own procedures in Patsani’s case. As far as action to be taken by the General Administration Department, it has put up a notice board on the encroached land wherein it claims to be its property and warns of action against the guilty.
Instead of taking direct action in this case, the BDA has registered a case against the mutt under the Odisha Development Authority (ODA) Act in an effort to prolong the matter further. Notably, the BDA had served a showcause notice to Raghunath Das of the Bajrangwali Sebashram on December 16 asking him to file a counter in a week by December 23 as to why the mutt should not be demolished. The lawyer of the mutt had submitted a reply on December 23.
Now, the hearing of the case has been scheduled for another date, complicating and elongating the matter further. The discriminatory action of the BDA is likely to put it in further trouble in its ongoing demolition drive in the city as the other encroachers may raise the issue of the Patsani Mutt.