Jajpur district admin to take over Kusuma cottages

Jajpur: Amid a raging controversy over the ‘mysterious’ buildings constructed within Kusuma children’s park and pond campus in Odisha’s Jajpur, Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan on Saturday said that the district administration will take over the cottage.

Stating that the cottage has been built on the land of Jajpur Municipality with CSR funds, the Collector told media that the project should have been handed over to the district administration after construction. The district administration will now take over the cottage and ensure its proper management though there has been a long gap since its construction, Kalyan said.

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be prepared so that the project could be used by the public, he said.

The Collector further stated that he discussed the matter with the Sports department which has clarified about its status. “It is now clear that the project has been built on the Municipality land through CSR fund. After the construction of the project, the agency should have handed it over to the district administration,” Kalyan said.

Since it is a government project built on Municipality land, the district administration will take it over and ensure its proper management, he said, adding that it is a public property and people should be able to use it for which SOP will be prepared. Earlier on Friday, the Jajpur Municipality had claimed that the building belongs to the Sports Department.

However, the Sports Department denied having funded the “buildings within the Kusuma pond campus”. The department further clarified it had no information about this project. “The district administration may be contacted for any further information about this project,” it added.

Vice-chairman of Jajpur Municipality Santosh Mallick had earlier said nine cottages on the premises of children’s park near Kusuma pond come under the department. Those were built at an estimated Rs 8 crore provided from CSR fund of some companies.

He also warned that if the ongoing attempts to bring bad name to Kusuma pond are not stopped, the municipality would be forced to take necessary action in this regard.

It may be noted that the local people had raised objection to construction of luxury buildings along the Kusuma pond and children’s park maintained by the municipality. They wanted to know why these cottages were constructed at a place meant for public use. They also alleged that influential and rich people visited the cottages for unethical purpose, amusement, fun and merry-making.