Odisha govt resorts to delaying tactics to protect BJD MP’s mutt

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 29:

Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) is trying its best to save BJD Odisha MP Prasanna Patsani’s Bajrangwali Mutt, also known as Patsani mutt, from demolition.

As per the standard operating procedures of BDA, a notice to evict the area is served to the encroachers and the demolition follows after 24 hours irrespective of the hue and cry by the encroachers. However, BDA has strangely deviated from its own procedures in the case of Patsani.

As far as action taken by the General Administration department, it has put up a notice board on the encroached land wherein it claims to be its property and warns of action against the guilty.

Instead of taking direct action in this case, BDA has registered a case against the mutt under Odisha Development Authority (ODA) Act in an effort to prolong the matter further.

It may be mentioned that the BDA had served a showcause notice to Raghunath Das of Bajrangwali Sebashram on December 16 asking him to file a counter in a week by December 23 on why should the mutt not be demolished.

Replying to the notice, the lawyer of the mutt had submitted its reply on December 23.

Now the hearing of the case has been scheduled for another date, complicating and elongating the matter further.

The biased action of the BDA will put it in further trouble in its ongoing demolition drive in the city as the encroachers are most likely to raise the issue of Patsani mutt.