Bhubaneswar, May 15: Ahead of the three-day special session of the state legislative Assembly beginning tomorrow, senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra today raked up the issue of irregularities in the fund management of the 12th century Shree Jagannath Temple.

On the basis of the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, Mohapatra today alleged that there was embezzlement of funds to the tune of Rs 100 crore from the temple's corpus fund of Rs 322 crore. "Undue favour was shown to contractors and there was a huge loss to the corpus fund of the shrine," he said adding that the Assembly should discuss this issue.

Talking to reporters, Mohapatra said: "According to the CAG report irregular payment was made to the tune of Rs 20 crore for the construction of a bus stand at Malatipatpur, which is about 5 km from the Puri town." After Nabakalebar, hardly any bus stops at the stand. Only a few tourist buses can be seen parked there.

Citing another example of alleged corruption, Mohapatra said: "Rs 15 crore was misused in the construction of a road around the Shree Jagannath Temple. We want answers as to why Shree Jagannath's money was misused in such a way. The special session being convened from tomorrow should take up the issue for discussion."

He also said there was a loss of interest as the temple administration did not follow a transparent method for depositing the money. "There is no cash book maintained by the temple administration. Even the audit team is not provided with the all papers," he said.

The senior leader said: "According to the norms, the annual administrative reports of Shree Jagannath Temple should be produced in the Assembly. But for the last 15 years, this has not been done. The government should answer why."

Former chief of the temple administration Suresh Mohapatra said: "These allegations are baseless. The government has complied with all the points raised by the CAG."

In another development, a section of servitors in a meeting of the temple administration today demanded that the temple administration should not allow Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati to enter the Snana Mandap where the Lord Jagannath and his siblings give darshan to the devotees after taking the holy bath.

"According to the record of rights of the temple, only authorised servitors should be allowed to the mandap and not others," said a servitor.

They also questioned the temple administration as to why no action had been taken against the wife of a senior IAS officer who had entered the restricted area of Shree Jagannath Temple last week.