Bagala Dharmasala Land Not Sold to Private Lodge Owners, Says Puri Collector

Puri: It is wrong to say that Bagala Dharmasala land has been sold to private lodge owners, said Puri district Collector Balwant Singh here on Sunday.

Strongly refuting the allegations that some portions of land of Bagala Dharmasala being sold to a few hoteliers, the Puri Collector said that the Bagala Dharmasala building has not been allotted to anybody.

In a press note, Singh said, “It is pertinent to mention that only 12% of total area(as shown in enclosed map) related to Bagala Dharmasala premises have been utilized to rehabilitate Sevayats/persons who have given their land, which is in very close vicinity of the Srimandir; that is within the 75 meters corridor”.

“The persons who have given away their land are mostly Sevayats including those of Bhitar Sevayat Nijog. They have been residing and utilizing this land (donated) and serving the Lord for centuries. It is because of the appeal of Government and their Bhakti towards the Lord, they donated the land to the Temple for the Corridor project. In fact they have sacrificed centuries old land for the Temple project”, he said.

The State Government as per the rehabilitation policy has rehabilitated some of them on the land now belonging to Revenue Department (which previously belonged to (Lodging House Fund Committee). The rehabilitation policy has been approved by the Cabinet and the same is being executed to ensure security of the Temple, increase in capacity as well as provision of better quality accommodation for pilgrims, so that Puri emerges as a world heritage centre.
Bagala Dharmasala was running a lodge with a capacity of 200 pilgrims. The State Government is already constructing a Pilgrim Centre/Lodge with a capacity of 2000 for poor pilgrims. Further, the State Government is going to add lodging capacity of 8000 for poor pilgrims in Puri. Thus, the State Government is in the process of almost increasing the poor pilgrim accommodation in Puri by 50 times i.e. from 200 to 10,000.

It is important that we acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifices made by the Sevayats donating their centuries old land properties for the cause of Srimandir & State Government has approved and implemented R & R Policy for their appropriate rehabilitation.

Bagala Dharmasala is situated over Khata No.242 & 150 measuring total area Ac. 2.738 in village Balagandi of Puri town. The land is recorded in the name of R & DM Department. It was previously recorded in the name of lodging House Fund Committee. The building of Bagala Dharmasala was running with 200 people accommodation capacity, a press note issued by the Collector added.