(From top) The ruins of the of the ancient fort of Churanga Garah, signboards give no clue about the direction of the site and the Ranigadhua pond. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 28: A tiff between the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the forest department has led to the neglect and abandonment of the ancient Churanga Garah fort, a milestone in Odisha’s rich archaeological heritage.

“The site has tremendous potential for archaeological activities such as excavation and conservation. We had also tried to explore the site in 2005, but forest department officials arrested our workers since the palace area came under a reserved forest. The forest department authorities had said that we needed to get a no-objection certificate from them. Only after receiving that could we could carry out further work. We had applied for this a few years ago, but received no response from them so far,” said superintend archaeologist of the ASI, Bhubaneswar circle, A.K. Patel.

“We might need to go to court to proceed with our conservation work,” he said.

However, the forest department officials have given a different version.

“Conducting any activity here is objected since the area lies within the limits of the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary. To help the ASI officials, we had suggested that they should apply for a forest diversion proposal in 2006, so that they could get an approval from the Centre to carry out non-forest activities such as excavation. But, we have never received any proposal from the ASI since then,” said divisional forest officer Akshay Patnaik.

Nowadays, Churanga Garah, the 12th century fortified area on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar near Baranga in the late 1940s, is wallowing in neglect. The ruins of the once-royal fort, which is located few kilometres away from the fast-paced urban life, lie forgotten as the heritage site awaits excavation and conservation.

Archaeologists said the site had earned its name after the reign of Ganga dynasty king Chodaganga Dev.

The fortified area encompasses about 1,000 acres amid the Chandaka forest where a military cantonment as well as a royal residential complex had once flourished.

Only the ruins of the fort’s boundary are visible today. However, more than a dozen ponds, some of which have dried up, are seen throughout the site.

“Our parents had heard from our forefathers that this royal complex housed ponds for various purposes. Ranigadhua, which still exists, was meant to be used only by the queens. Hathigadhua, which has completely dried up, was used to bathe the elephants of the military,” said Shyama, a member of the Munda tribe.

The local tribal people, who have settled here from Keonjhar about 80 years ago, also said there were other structures in this area such as Solapuri Uasa, which is a palace with 16 rooms. However, archaeologists could explore only nine blocks. The tribal people also worshipped trees as goddesses following the ancient traditions.

Though many household, wares and artefacts were found at the site during excavation, at present, there is almost no evidence of history because of poor condition of the structures and lack of further excavation. The site was declared ASI protected in 1951. However, proper signage to establish the presence of the historical spot has not yet been installed by the ASI.