**Puri**: A day after Puri Collector vowed to take stringent action against those who found guilty in the allegations of land grabbing of Swargadwara (crematorium), a high level meeting here on Thursday decided that a nine-member committee headed by the Collector will probe the matter.
The committee will submit its report in seven days, informed Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) Central Zone, AB Ota, after an emergency meeting held at the Circuit House in the holy city.
Apart from District Collector Arvind Agrawal, the committee comprises Additional District Magistrate, Sub-Collector, Secretary and Under Secretary of RDC, Temple Land Officer, Superintendent of Police, and Settlement Officer among others as members.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting Agrawal said, “The committee formed by RDC will probe into the matter and can only arrive at a conclusion after we examine in detail case records of each case. We will make all possible efforts to get back the 16 acre land. We have to examine genuineness of the power of attorneys produced at the time of transfers and take the help of Shankaracharya mutt.”
The RDC said that the preliminary inquiries hinted at land fraud.
“The committee will submit a report to me by Wednesday after conducting plot-wise detailed probe. The original 16.4 acre of land of Swargadwara comprising of 242 plots will come under the purview of the investigation,” Ota said.
Meanwhile, Puri MLA Maheswar Mohanty denied the allegations of irregularities taken place when he was the municipality chairman.
“Swargadwara is a sacred place and the district administration should go ahead with its expansion plan. Most of the beautification works at Swargadwara was conducted when I was the Puri municipality chairman in 1988,” the local MLA added.
