Sisupalgarh: Orissa High Court asks State Govt to file affidavit seeking plans to remove encroachments

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to clarify their plan of removing encroachments from the Sisupalgarh and facilitate the construction of a boundary wall around the heritage ruins.

Hearing to the PIL filed by Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) 15 years back for the protection of Sishupalgarh, the two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik has asked the government to file an affidavit of the detailed plan.

“The state government must come up with a detailed plan on how it proposes to go about enforcing the gazette notification related to Sisupalgarh by removing encroachments and facilitating construction of the boundary wall around the demarcated area notified as a Centrally-protected monument,” the bench stated.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has already filed an affidavit where it has been mentioned that ASI has sanctioned Rs 81 lakh for the construction of the boundary wall around the protected area of the Sisupalgarh. However, the work could not start due to the encroachment in the area.

An excavation work at Sisupalgarh was carried out by renowned archaeologists BB Lal in 1948. The archaeological remains of the fortified settlement is believed to be over 2000 years old.