Ongoing demolition work at Emar Mutt in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, May 18: The Puri district administration today began demolition of the famous Emar Mutt in Puri which is closely connected with the 12th Century Jagannath temple.

The mutt was in the news last year after police arrested seven persons, including the Mahant, for stealing silver bricks worth crores from the shrine.

Following the arrests on March 23, 2011, the police also seized 19 quintals of silver ingots worth Rs 19 crore.

Puri sub-collector Uddhav Majhi said: “The demolition process is going on as per the direction of Orissa High Court. We are hopeful that we will be able to demolish the weak part of the mutt before the car festival, which will commence on June 21.”

To demolish the mutt, the district administration sealed the roads and areas near it. While two platoons of police were deployed to maintain law and order, roads and buildings department officials were present.

In 2006, the district administration had slapped a notice on Emar authorities to demolish the dilapidated parts of the mutt. However, they challenged the district administration’s decision on the ground that it was a heritage site and the authorities were not competent enough to demolish the site.

Even the 18 shop owners, who are doing business on its premises, had moved court with the prayer that they should be rehabilitated before allowing the authorities to demolish the mutt.

Later, the court in its order stated that the interest of the shop owners had to be honoured.

Speaking on the issue, sub-collector Majhi said: “We are not going to touch the deities inside the mutt. The mahant and his disciples will remain in the mutt. We will only demolish the weaker parts of the mutt so that any sort of accidents could be avoided during the rush at the time of the rath yatra.”

Similarly, post-demolition, the mutt authorities will repair the library from the funds they collected as rent from the shop owners.

After the demolition of the mutt, a market complex will be constructed at the site and all the displaced shop owners will be allotted the traders. The district administration has also planned to create parking space in the area for vehicles going to the 12th Century temple.

The Puri Konark Development Authority (PKDA) has agreed to approve the necessary building plan as soon as possible once the project proposal is submitted.

On Wednesday, the State Endowment Commission said that all the works related to the leasing of shops would be done by the mutt mahant, Rajgopal Ramanuja Das. The mutt mahant has already been granted bail by Orissa High Court and was reinstated as the chief of the mutt.