Patna, July 19 :The builders of three Buddhist monasteries under construction in Bihar's Bodh Gaya are to be booked for violating the master plan, an official said Saturday.
Irked by the open violation of the master plan near Mahabodhi temple, Buddhism's holiest shrine in Bodh Gaya, Magadh Divisional Commissioner K.P. Ramiyah directed the officials concerned to lodge a report against three Buddhist monasteries and a school on charges of illegal construction.
“Any form of concrete construction is against master plan,” said an official at Bodh Gaya, about 110 km from the state capital here.
In a special drive against illegal constructions at Bodh Gaya last month, authorities issued an order to stop the building of three Buddhist monasteries and a school. But construction continued in violation of the master plan.
While the Thai Bharat Society and Drikung Charitable Trust are building two of these monasteries, a Buddhist monk Hadante Ratnesh, is building the third.
"All these monasteries and the school were being constructed in the prohibited core zone in Bodh Gaya," said Ramiyah.
He said action against the three Buddhist monasteries and a school would be initiated for illegal construction and violation of the master plan.
The 1,500-year-old temple at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment 2,550 years ago, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002 by Unesco.
(IANS)
