While the administration postponed the demolition work of the Emar Mutt till Tuesday citing the Ganesh festival, the State Government has sanctioned Rs 5 crore for a modern library to be set up in the land of the 900-year-old monastery.
The library will be equipped with all modern facilities for readers and its name will be retained as the Raghunandan Library.
On the other hand, Emar Mutt Mahant (abbot) Rajgopal Ramanuja Das had not vacated his room by Sunday evening. In last three days, the district administration had tried to convince him to vacate the room.
A container with all domestic facilities is still ready at the mutt premises to house the Mahant.
Though not yet confirmed, sources said that the Mahant had agreed to requests of the administration on Saturday to leave his room. However, a doubt still persists as the abbot had not vacated by Sunday. However, he was found coming out of his room and standing some times.
Puri Sub-Collector Bhaba Charan Sahoo told The Pioneer that the Mahant is presently in the mutt and accomplishing the rituals of his deities. Asked about shifting of the Mahant to the container, he, however, didn’t clear the air.
On Saturday, the administration had begun demolition of twelve shops situated in the mutt premises. On Tuesday, eviction would resume, said officials.
In yet another development, Puri MLA Jayant Sarangi has opposed the demolition drive, saying it is a conspiracy. Talking to reporters on Saturday, he had told that eviction of houses and temples within 75 meters from the Jagannath Temple is quite doubtful as no blueprint has been made public by the administration.
He said he supports development of Puri but opposes the way the administration is doing the works without taking people into confidence.
The administration has overlooked the standard operating procedure (SOP) before eviction, said Sarangi.
He further said that the administration demolishing mutts on reason of being unsafe is quite wrong. If the buildings are unsafe, how thousands of people had sat on their roofs to watch the Car Festival this year without any incident, asked Sarangi.
