Centre ought to withdraw NMA bylaws for Ekamra Kshetra temples: Naveen Patnaik

Days after the Central authorities withdrew the draft heritage bylaws issued by the National Monuments Authority (NMA) for Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded withdrawal of the bylaws for temples in Ekamra Kshetra space of Bhubaneswar as effectively.
In an announcement, Patnaik appealed to MPs from Odisha to take up the matter with the Union authorities. “Central government should immediately withdraw the National Monuments Authority draft bylaws on Ananta Basudev and Brahmeshwar temple of Ekamra Kshetra,” he stated. “It would have been appropriate for the central agencies to take the state into confidence on sensitive religious issues.”
On Monday, Union Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel introduced withdrawal of the draft heritage bylaws for improvement round Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, after delegations of the BJP and the ruling BJD individually met him in Delhi, searching for its withdrawal. This got here a day after the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) wrote to the NMA, searching for withdrawal of the January 18 draft bylaws, which prohibit any sort of building inside 100-metre radius of the temple and its subsidiary shrines.

The Ekamra Kshetra has a collection of sandstone temples courting again to third century BC and fifteenth century AD. In 2020, the state authorities deliberate a beautification mission across the space unfold throughout 1,126 acre and develop it into a serious vacationer attraction.
The beautification mission was just lately embroiled in an issue after the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) initiated an investigation into the demolitions performed by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation that allegedly broken historical constructions of archaeological significance.

The ruling BJD has alleged that by such legal guidelines, the Central authorities is attempting to restrain improvement within the state to push tourism. “With the introduction of such laws, the NMA under Union Culture Ministry and even the ASI, through its investigations, are trying to obstruct the development activities in Ekamra Kshetra,” BJD spokesperson Shreemayee Mishra stated.