Puri: Sri Jagannath temple administration has asked the Puri Tahsildar to find out how the Laxmi Market Complex, where a devastating fire last week destroyed several shops, has come up on Jagannath temple property.
Puri Tahasildar Kshirod Kumar Behera told media persons that the market complex owner will be served notice to explain his position and furnish documents as to how he got the Sri Jagannath temple property.
The Laxmi Market Complex fire incident has now raised many questions as to the transfer of Sri Jagannath temple endowment in favour of individuals and the subsequent construction of a market complex over the land blatantly violating the mandatory norms of the development authority.
The matter has become a topic of hot discussion among the residents and administration circles after an old Shiva temple in the back side of the market complex became visible to the public view having no passage to it.
Dr Surendra Mishra a noted research scholar said it is known as Karnameswar Shiva temple established in the eleventh century by spiritual saint Karnamagiri. The then ruler had allocated land to the saint who founded a Shiva temple.
Many residents said earlier pilgrims were visiting the shrine. How it changed hands and became a market complex is a matter to probe.
District sub-collector Bhabataran Sahu said the Public Works Department (PWD) has been asked to assess the stability of the badly mutilated structure of the Laxmi Market complex which has been sealed by the authority after the major fire.
Sahu said “we are meticulously following all legal formalities before taking any step.
Ramesh Prasad Sinha a senior lawyer also questioned how a Shiva temple was handed over to Balaram kota matha which is a Vaishnavite one.
According to government records 22 decimal land of the Karnameswar Shiva temple stands recorded in favour of the Sri Jagannath temple management committee with freehold status.
The adjacent plot with an area of only 3.5 decimal is owned by one Achyutanand Mohanty.
Meanwhile, RTI activist Jayant Kumar Das has approached the state government to conduct a probe into the land transfer and requested the Sri Jagannath temple administration to take possession of the temple and property.
Das has urged the government to initiate legal action against the then secretary of Puri Konark Development Authority, Tahsildar, a fire officer who was instrumental in the construction of the market complex on the temple land.
How a Shiva temple was entrusted to Vaishnab matha which sold out the property to a person who constructed a market complex blocking the passage to the Shiva temple, Das questioned.
A three-member committee headed by the Tahasildar submitted its report Tuesday to the sub-collector.
Soon after the fire incident, a three-member body comprising local fire officers, police and administration was formed to find out the cause of the fire and to estimate damage of the property of traders operating from the complex.
Sources said those who went to the Karnameswar Shiva temple after the fire mishap found the Shakti and lingam missing from the temple.
The devotees have urged the police to investigate the missing deities from the temple.
UNI