BHUBANESWAR: In the midst of mounting criticism for not obtaining requisite permission and conducting necessary surveys prior to excavating the Srimandir Parikrama Project site at Puri, the State government agency Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation Limited (OBCC) has roped in Indian Institute of Technology at Gandhinagar (IIT-Gandhinagar) to conduct ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the area.
Late on Saturday night, the GPR survey was conducted on the southeast corner of Sri Jagannath temple where Emar Mutt once stood. Recently, two broken lion sculptures were found there. The survey reportedly began on Friday.
As the survey work was taken up in the middle of the night, opposition political parties have trained guns on Odisha government for conducting the work in a hush-hush manner, away from the public eye.
All that Managing Director of OBCC JK Das said was a four-member team of IIT-Gandhinagar would conduct the GPR survey of Parikrama Project site for one or two more days. It will take 15 to 20 more days for the report on findings of the survey to come out.
As per UNESCO guidelines, before any development work within the prohibited zone (100 metres) of a Centrally-protected monument of national importance, a GPR survey is mandatory. It includes mapping of unrecorded underground assets within the zone without disturbing the on-surface conditions.
In case of Parikrama Project, OBCC had admitted that GPR survey was not done prior to ongoing construction works within the prohibited zone of the 12th century shrine during the joint inspection of the site by ASI.
Work on the project started on January 20 this year and ASI inspected the site on May 1 following ballooning allegations of violation of the AMASR Act.
Sources said, the southeast corner of the temple is where the Shree Jagannath Reception Centre - the most important component of the 75 metre heritage corridor project - is coming up.
In the original detailed project report (DPR) of the Parikrama Project, the reception centre was planned in the prohibited zone but later on the suggestion by DG ASI V Vidyavathi, the Cultural Advisory Committee (CAC) of the project decided to shift the proposed centre to the regulated (200 metres) zone of the shrine over security reasons.
The reception centre was planned over half an acre land with a five-storey air-conditioned structure to accommodate 6,000 pilgrims along with security checking (baggage screening) facility, cloakroom for keeping belongings of up to 4,000 persons, drinking water and toilet, facilities for washing hands and feet, souvenir and book shop.
However, considering height restrictions of structures in the regulated zone, the DPR is being modified again and would be resubmitted along with the GPR survey report to the National Monument Authority for approval.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) is planning to submit the DPR prior to June 22 when the Orissa High Court will hear the Srimandira Parikrama case, the sources added.
The New Indian Express reached out to SJTA chief administrator and OBCC chairman Vir Vikram Yadav and Collector Samarth Verma to seek further details on the GPR survey and construction of the reception centre. They, however, refused to comment.