Summer is holy time here!

SAMBALPUR: Summer is the season of piety for the fervent but deprived devotees settled around the Hirakud Dam Project (HDP) in Sambalpur, when many temples submerged by the project reappear from beneath the sliding water level in the dam.  As many as 80 temples in the 294 revenue villages in the undivided Sambalpur district perished under the project. While a few temples were constructed following rehabilitation of the displaced lot, a number of idols have been rotting in the Government godowns for decades. According to information from the Collectorate, only six of the 80 temples have been reconstructed.  Locals attribute the impasse to lackadaisical attitude of the district administration. Though a Submerge Area Temple Committee (SATC), chaired by the District Collector, was set up for maintenance of the temples, neither the district administration nor the Endowments Department has taken any step towards achieving the goal.  A glaring proof to the administration’s apathy in installing the idols is the Jagannath temple in Baradungri village in Rengali block, which has been under construction since 1982. The temple was commissioned to reinstall the Jagannath idol from Pitapali village which came under the periphery of HDP, hence had to be displaced.  The Jagannath temple at Kurla has a different story. Well submerged under the dam water round the year, locals get to catch a glimpse of the temple during summer, when the water level dips. Similar is the fate of the temple at Rampella. However, the rough weather has failed to make a dent on either of the two structures.