Campaign to retrieve Lord Jagannath land

BHUBANESWAR: Sri Jagannath Surakshya Abhijan (SJSA), a fledgling organisation fighting against ‘unlawful’ transfer of Jagannath Temple land to Vedanta University, on Monday announced a month-long tour programme to retrieve the land from Anil Agarwal Foundation which is setting up the proposed varsity. Describing it as ‘Odia Swabhiman Yatra’, SJSA convener Uma Ballav Rath told mediapersons that the journey would start from Beladala near Puri town on November 10, the auspicious full-moon day of ‘Kartika’. At least five buses carrying supporters of the movement will crisscross the State to create awareness among the people and appeal to them to protest the Government’s alleged move to hand over the temple land for the University. The State Government has received ` 8.80 crore from the Foundation towards 604.41 acres of land handed over to it. The money has been deposited in the temple trust account and interest accrued is spent on the daily rituals of Srimandir. This has hurt the feelings of people of the State and the objective of the yatra is to collect donations from the public to meet the daily expenditure of the temple, Rath said.