Amid the row over the Shreemandir Heritage Corridor Project, reports of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey being carried out around the Jagannath Temple in a clandestine manner late on Saturday night have raised many an eyebrow. 

Some people were reportedly spotted carrying out certain inspection from the Kakudikhai temple in the southeast corner of the main temple to the Emar Mutt and other nearby spots with some machines.

When confronted by locals, the persons concerned said they were officials of the Geocarte Radar Technology Private Limited and were conducting a GPR survey on behalf of the IIT Gandhinagar.

It is alleged that the Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation has asked the IIT Gandhinagar to conduct the GPR survey at the project site only at night. The institute has been asked to complete the survey in four days. While two days of assessment is complete, the final report is likely to be submitted after two more days of the inspection, said sources.

Notably, the corridor project row is currently subjudice in the Orissa High Court. During the last hearing in the case, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) submitted that the State Government had not carried out a GPR survey around the temple before executing deep excavation works for the project construction. The ASI raised serious suspicion that the digging work without the survey might have destroyed rich heritage around the shrine.

Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Sunday accused Puri BJD MP Pinaki Misra of misleading the judiciary and people of Odisha about the GPR survey of the project.

Patra said Misra had earlier claimed that the GPR survey of the corridor project had been completed.

Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said that whatever work is done, it should be undertaken in daylight as activities after dark raise suspicion.