Bhubaneswar: Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has rejected all allegations of irregularities in the construction of its headquarters, Sankha Bhawan, in the Odisha capital here.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party reacted sharply after Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari announced that the state government will conduct a probe regarding the allegations of irregularities, including changes in the land status, in the construction of Sankha Bhawan in the capital city.

According to the Revenue Minister, there were allegations that the status of a piece of land, which was earlier mentioned as ‘Sadak’ in the government records, was changed illegally for the construction of the BJD headquarters in the city here.

Similarly, it was alleged that government plots had been leased out to BJD at lower rate.

As per the allegations, the market price of the government plots allotted to BJD was stated to be over Rs 100 crore. However, the plots were leased out to the regional party at Rs 12.93 crore.

Countering the allegations, the BJD claimed that a high-level committee, led by then Chief Secretary, had allotted four plots at Ganganagar Mouza in the capital city to the party in 2020 for construction of Sankha Bhawan.

“The status of three plots had been mentioned as Gharbari while that of one was Conservancy Lane. There was no mention of public road or ‘Sadak’ in the government records. The Committee had finalized the benchmark value of the plots at around Rs 13 crore,” said senior BJD leader and former MLA Debi Prasad Mishra at a presser here.

BJD leader Lenin Mohanty claimed that the Revenue Minister had deliberately raised certain non-issues related to Sankha Bhawan to create confusion among the people.

Former MLA and BJD leader Pranab Prakash Das said the high-level committee headed by then Chief Secretary had also allotted government plots to the BJP for constructing its office at Kharavela Nagar Mouza of the capital city in 2020. The benchmark value for the plots was fixed at around Rs 26 crore.

“It is unfortunate that the Revenue Minister made certain statements without proper knowledge of the land allocation process. The BJD has not done any irregularities in the construction of Sankha Bhawan,” said Das in a Twitter (X) post.