As many as 1,700 acres of land were registered in the name of Lord Lingaraj in 1980s in 13 districts of the State and some parts of Andhra Pradesh, as per temple records.
However as on today, the temple administration is in possession of just 126 acres which include 21 acres around the Bindusagar pond and five acres on which the 11th-century temple stands. The rest, worth crores of rupees, is under encroachment by land sharks. The efforts by the temple administration to evict the encroachers have failed miserably.
In a classic example of land grabbing in heart of the city under the nose of State Government, a plot of 1.160 acre in Bhimpur near the New Airport VIP road which was in the possession of Bharati Mutt has been grabbed by some influential people who have good access to the power corridors. These land grabbers have constructed a palatial three storied building on the plot and collecting rent worth lakhs from it from it by giving it on rent to the Bank of Baroda, said social activist and State progressive Women Forum chairperson Mamata Samantray at a Press conference here.
The Endowment Commissioner had lodged a case against the illegal occupation which is subjudice. Besides, the temple administration has lodged a case in a civil court to reclaim its land. While the eviction case is subjice , the court ordered the illegal occupants Sarswati Patra and Rana Patra to deposit the the monthly rent collected from the building in the Endowment Court. Mamata ,who is also an occupant of in the building is depositing the rent in the Endowment court. Later, the Patra couple have allegedly managed to get a stay on the order from the Orissa High by a forged land record and embexxle the monthly rent of Rs 10 lakhs, said Mamata.
The Patra couple a beating the drum that they have manged to get the forged record with the help of Ekamra MLA and Minister Ashok Panda and senior IAS Officer Madhusudan Padhi.
Mamata has appealed to the Chief Minister and the 5T Secretary to reclaim the aforesaid land worth Rs 100 crore as the the Lingaraj Temple Trust and the trustee board lawyer are hand-in-glove with the illegal occupants and shown no interest is evicting the encroachers and get possession of the land.
Mamata alleged that the Patra couple has launched a slander campaign in social media and with the help of some dubious web channels to tarnish her image for which she has filed a defamation case worth Rs 20 crore against them.