Cuttack, April 14: The state government's demand to make no-flying zone over the Jagannath temple in Puri is back in focus with a PIL seeking Orissa High Court's intervention in it.
In March last year, two Indian Mujahideen operatives, whom Delhi police had arrested, reportedly admitted that Puri was there target and they had visited Bhubaneswar and Puri to make an assessment.
Such developments had prompted the state government to review the temple's security. Subsequently, the temple administration had submitted a proposal to the director-general of civil aviation on May 27 last year for declaring the Jagannath temple premises as a no-flying zone.
However, it turned down the proposal.
On June 6 last year, A.K. Bhardwaj, director of operations in the director-general of civil aviation, in a letter to the state government, stated: "The ministry of civil aviation has taken a policy decision that 'no-flying zones' are not to be created as they affect the safety and efficiency of flight operations. In view of the above fact, the request for declaring the premises of Sri Jagannath temple in Puri as 'no-flying zone' cannot be considered."
The PIL has sought the court's direction to the director-general of civil aviation for declaring the premises of Jagannath temple as a "no-flying zone" and the bada danda (main street) before it as a "temporary no-flying zone" on the eve of Gundicha yatra or rath yatra in July. Nabakalebar on the eve of rath yatra is expected to draw 50 lakh people to Puri.
In his petition, high court lawyer Nishikanta Mishra alleged: "Safety and security of millions of devotees visiting the Jagannath temple and the rath yatra is in serious threat due to the high-handed action of the director-general of civil aviation."
Dubbing its rejection of the proposal as "high-handed", the PIL contended: "Similar no-flying zones already exist over the Tirumalla Venkateswat Temple in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Taj Mahal in Agra and Tower of Silence in Mumbai."
The petition further mentioned: "Shivaji Park ground in central Mumbai was declared as a temporary 'no-flying zone' for the purpose of Republic Day for six hours on January 26, 2015."
"The area had not only been declared as a 'no-flying zone' but paragliding and use of remote controlled micro light aircraft was also not allowed keeping in mind the possibility of terrorists using such methods in attack," the petition stated.
"Rajpath in New Delhi was also declared as a 'no-flying zone' by breaking the tradition of 'fly past' during the US President's visit on the Republic Day celebrations due to the US security concern claiming that the aircraft in the fly post could be used as weapons," the petition stated on basis of media report.
The PIL is yet to be listed for hearing.
