Boundary wall around Sisupalgarh ruins: State govt fails to reply to ASI affidavit

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday could not proceed with the issue of construction of a boundary wall around the Sisupalgarh ruins on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar as the State government failed to comply with the order issued by it on March 15.The remains of what possibly was one of the earliest fortified cities was excavated at Sisupalgarh by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1948. 

The court has been hearing a PIL filed 15 years ago by Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (Intach) for the protection of more than 2000-year-old monuments at Sisupalgarh. The State government was expected to file a reply to an affidavit filed by the ASI by May 16. 

In the March 15 order, the court had directed the State government to “come up with a detailed plan on how it proposes to go about enforcing the gazette notification (related to Sisupalgarh) by removing encroachments and facilitating construction of the boundary wall around the demarcated area which has been notified as a centrally protected monument”.

But when the matter was taken up on Monday the State government sought more time. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray granted four weeks’ time to the  government and their last opportunity to file the reply to ASI’s affidavit and fixed July 18 as the next date of hearing on the matter.

The Superintending Archaeologist of ASI (Bhubaneswar Circle) Arun Malik in an affidavit filed on March 15 had said that effective steps have been taken for constructing a boundary wall around part of the protected area and for it `81 lakh has been already sanctioned and approved by the competent authority of ASI. 

However, the work of such construction can be taken up and completed “only after removal of encroachments found within the protected area”.The protected area in terms of the gazette notification of November 13, 1950 is to an extent of 562.68 acres, the affidavit pointed out.