Damaged sculpture find puts Puri heritage work in a spot

Bhubaneswar: A damaged stone sculpture, resembling a lion, was spotted outside the Jagannath Temple in Puri where alleged unauthorized excavation was carried out under the government’s ambitious heritage corridor project.
Finding of the ancient stone sculpture lent credence to the Archaeological Survey of India’s earlier apprehension that the alleged mindless digging might have damaged the archaeological remains buried in the prohibited area of the temple.
“There is every possibility that the agency (Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation Ltd) during the excavation/soil removal might have destroyed the archaeological remains of the heritage site,” read a joint inspection report submitted by the state government and the ASI in the Orissa high court recently.
Experts took a jibe at the state government for doing precious little to preserve the ancient heritage remains. “The government did not undertake the mandatory ground penetrating radar survey (GPRS) before carrying out the digging activities in front of the temple. A GPRS would have helped the government to spot the presence of antiques under the ground,” said S N Mishra, a retired archaeologist.
The site was excavated for establishment of a huge reception centre for devotees under the heritage corridor project. However, the government has decided to shift the site of the proposed reception centre following objections by the ASI and National Monuments Authority (NMA). Both the agencies asked the government to shift the proposed reception centre from the prohibited area. The government has started filling the pits.
“Who will compensate for the loss of our ancient heritage? Had the government executed the project by complying with the norms of the ASI and NMA, the archaeological remains would have been protected,” said Sarat Rayguru, a lawyer, who earlier filed a petition in a court in Puri against the alleged unauthorized project.
In a related development, Jagannath Sena, a voluntary organization, lodged a complaint with the Shree Lingaraj police in Bhubaneswar against the ASI’s superintending archaeologist Arun Malik for alleged negligence and dereliction of duty.
“The ASI’s superintending archaeologist turned a blind eye to the unauthorized constructions. He neither took steps to stop the work nor appealed to the Orissa high court to halt the project,” Jagannath Sena’s convener Priyadarshan Pattnaik said. Repeated attempts to contact Malik were unsuccessful.
Inspired By