Kendrapada, known as the Karmabhumi of late Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, failed to garland statue of Biju located in front of Kendrapara New Bus Stand on the Utkal Divas on Wednesday. However, when the administration showed the lapse, some Biju lovers came forward and garlanded the statue. Intellectual masses opined that Biju Babu should be remembered while celebrating the Utkal Divas. The act of the district administration and the municipality authority was condemned by many. District Collector Pramod Kumar Das, however, said since the place, where the statue of Biju Babu has been installed, is a disputed land, the district administration skipped garlanding the statue in deference to a court order.
Similarly, Kendrapara civic body chairman Dhiren Sahu repeated the same. Sahu stated that the members of Biju Patnaik Foundation Trust of the district earlier had urged the municipality authority and the district administration to provide a land for the establishment of the statue near the New Bus Stand. As a result, the civic body had planned to provide a land there which is used as parking place by auto rickshaws. The Kendrapara Auto Owners’ Association has taken lease of the land from Kendrapara municipality since 2005.
Kendrapara Auto Owner’s Association secretary Sarat Kumar Sahoo filed a writ petition at the High Court on December 17, 2013, alleging that the district administration, the municipality authority, and vice chairman of Kendrapara civic body, Jayanti lenka allegedly had planned to set up a statue at its leasehold land and prayed the court for justice. As a result, the court had passed an interim order of maintaining status quo on the land. However, somebody installed the statue during night hours before the order was received by the district administration and municipality authority, Sahu told.