Collector announces district takeover of controversial Kusuma project in Jajpur
PURI: Amid a raging controversy over a luxurious bungalow constructed within the premises of children’s park along Kusuma pond in Jajpur, collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan on Saturday said the district administration will take over the project.
The collector said a few cottages have been built on the municipality land with CSR funds. He clarified the project should have been handed over to the district administration after its construction. “The project has been built on municipality land with CSR funds. After the construction of the project, the agency should have handed it over to the district administration. However, there has been a long gap in it. Now the district administration will take over the cottage and ensure its proper management,” he said.
Kalyan further informed a standard operating procedure (SOP) will be prepared so that the project can be used by the public. The collector stated he had discussed the matter with the Sports and Youth Services department which clarified about its status. “It is now clear that the project has been built on municipality land with CSR funds”, he said.
The collector said since the project has been built on Municipality land, the district administration will take it over. “It is a public property. We will prepare a SOP so that people can use it in future. We will also ensure its proper management,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, Jajpur municipality deputy chairman Santosh Mallick said the bungalow on the premises of children’s park has been built for development of sports. “With due permission from the state government, the land was bought and transferred to the Sports departmet. As per the information available with us, the project has been built at an expenditure of `8 crore from the CSR fund of some companies. The municipality was requested to provide land to the Sports Department,” said Mallick.
However, in response, the Sports department clarified it had not received funds for the department. Meanwhile, the mystery shrouding the nine cottages in the luxurious bungalow has intensified further. While there was free entry for VIPs, a no-entry board was put up for common people. Questions are being raised for whom the bungalows were constructed within the premises of a children’s park.
Earlier, locals had raised objections to construction of luxury buildings along Kusuma pond and the children’s park maintained by Jajpur municipality. They wanted to know why the cottages were constructed at a place meant for public use.
