The Orissa high court has ordered the Cuttack district administration to 'demolish all temples constructed unauthorised on government lands in Cuttack'.
"Demolish all temples in Cuttack city within two months which are constructed unauthorised on government lands or have encroached public roads," a division bench of Justices B P Das and and M M Das ordered while adjudicating over a PIL on Cuttack city's problems on Friday.
The division bench had earlier asked the district administration to prepare a list of all places of worship obstructing normal traffic in the city.
The state irrigation department, which maintains the Ring Road in a joint survey with Cuttack Municipal Corporation, had identified at least 111 temples inside the city, which are illegally constructed encroaching roads, creating public inconvenience during puja hours and festivals.
While 72 temples are located inside the city, 39 others dot the nine km long Ring Road, the survey had found.
About three years ago the authorities had demolished at least 10 half-constructed temples that had dotted along the Ring Road, which protects the Millennium city from flooding rivers surrounding three sides of the city.
