The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party intensified its campaign on Thursday against the Naveen Patnaik government handing over a portion of the Bagla Dharmasala — a heritage home for pilgrims — at Puri to influential hotel owners.
Launching an online petition, the party announced that it would continue its campaign till the government scrapped the deal.
According to the BJP, many pilgrims who were forced to sleep on the road due to non-availability of accommodation had died of an epidemic in 1899. “Saddened by the episode, noted philanthropist Kanhaiya Lal Bagla ji donated ₹35,000 to the Health Commission for building a massive and spacious Dharmashala. The Dharmashala with 44 enormous rooms and a courtyard was built on three acres of land and it was inaugurated in the year 1905,” it said.
Devotees used to pay a very negligible amount towards sanitation. Apart from this, events like weddings and thread ceremony were hosted at the venue at a very nominal cost. The Dharmasala fell into disuse due to the State government’s apathy, the party alleged.
The NDA government had sanctioned ₹20 crore under Prasad Yojana for its renovation, the BJP said. “The contractor started the renovation with an amount of ₹3 crore, but the State government stopped the work and started hatching a conspiracy to sell the land,” said Sambit Patra, BJP spokesperson who had unsuccessfully fought the general election from Puri.
The party said the government sold a portion of Dharmasala to six persons.
“This act hurts the sentiments of crores of Jagannath devotees and Odias across the world. This callous action by the State government is seen as a huge humiliation of Jagannath devotees,” said Sameer Mohanty, State BJP president.