Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: The housing and urban development department today said that the Odisha unit of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) had got the approval to construct an institutional complex, a temple, an administrative building and a museum.

However, at the time of filing for permission, it had not made any reference of constructing a Jagannath temple at the proposed site at Baliapanda, about 2.5 km away from the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri.

Puri district collector Arvind Agrawal has already submitted a detailed report on the proposed site where Iskcon had planned to construct the temple.

The report said that the proposed complex was planned to come up on an area of 17,903sqft. Though Iskcon had applied for constructing an eight-storey complex, it got the approval of only a three-storey building. In 2012, Iskcon had applied for the construction.

The Puri Municipal Corporation and the Odisha State Pollution Control Board had also given their nod to the Iskcon project.

According to the collector's report, Iskcon had a plan to build a Bhakta Nivas (residence for devotees), a temple and a museum.

But problem cropped up after Iskcon officials started distributing leaflets stating that it had a plan to construct a Jagannath temple.

In another development, the Puri district administration has asked the authorities to appear before it on January 29 with all records.

Law minister Arun Sahu said that under no circumstances would the government allow the culture and tradition of Lord Jagannath to be "tarnished".

Excise and co-operation minister Damodar Rout said construction of any second Jagannath temple was not acceptable.

"We should not allow them to go ahead with the project," he said.

Iskcon officials, however, made it clear that they only had a plan to set up a temple of Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha in Puri.

The officials had also made it clear that they would not install the idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings inside the proposed temple.

In a related development, the Naveen Patnaik government today transferred Puri-Konark Development Authority secretary Pabitra Mandal to Cuttack Development Authority.