Bhawanipatna: Remains of an ancient temple were found during the removal of silt from Patalbandha pond in Dadpur village under Bhawanipatna Sadar block of Kalahandi. Following this, the district Collector has ordered to stop the digging work and seal the area, an official source said today.

A team of police has been deployed to guard the pond. The district administration has approached state Archaeology department to carry out research on the finding to ascertain their historicity.

According to the official, Rs 4 lakh was earlier sanctioned to Dadpur panchayat from SFC funds for silt removal work and the work was started five days ago with the help of a digging machine.

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When the work was underway, the digging machine got stuck in the middle of the pond and did not move further. Subsequently, laboureres were engaged to manually dig the pond leading to the unearthing.

After several remains were found here, the matter was intimated to the district Administration.

Kalahandi University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sanjay Kumar Satapathy has visited the site and taken stock of the found-out remains in the meantime. “We will carry out a detailed research soon to date the ancient temple remains,” the Vice-Chancellor said.

Besides, the local block development officer (BDO) has also visited the site.

Notably, the pond is located near the shrine of Lord Nilakantheswar. It is said that the ancient remains date back to kingship days, which has not been ascertained yet.