A PIL was filed in Orissa High Court on Friday seeking judicial intervention for declaring the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri a ‘No flying zone’.
Social activist and lawyer Nishikant Mishra in his petition has urged the High Court to direct the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), New Delhi, to take immediate steps, and declare the Grand Road (Bada Danda) of the temple town as ‘No flying zone’ temporarily during the Rath Yatra.
Stating that the DGCA had turned down a similar request by the Odisha Government last year on the ground that the Ministry of Civil Aviation had taken a policy decision not to create any other ‘no flying zone’, Mishra alleged that the civil aviation regulatory body seems to be adopting double standards on the issue.
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Pointing out that the Thirumalla Venkateswar Temple in Tirupati, Taj Mahal in Agra and Tower of Silence in Mumbai were under the ‘no flying zone’, he questioned why the same preventive measures could not be extended to the Puri temple.
Making both the Central and State government respondents to the PIL, Mishra has also alleged that neither the Odisha Government nor the local civil administration at Puri are well prepared to prevent possible terror attacks in view of a video clipping that went viral in the social media last year showing an aerial view of the temple.