Lands Minister Ashneel Sudhakar has once again stressed that the proposed Indian embassy will not be built on the Suva Botanical Garden.

Sudhakar says there is a lot of misconception in relation to this.

“We are not going to touch any plant on the actual botanical garden. It is all going to be at the other side of the road and if you take the drive to the particular lot you will see what I am talking about , it’s an idle land. It’s not maintained well, bushes is growing there.”

Earlier this week, Suvavou villagers submitted their petition claiming the land is part of their ancient burial ground.

Sudhakar says there are no records that the proposed site used to be an ancient burial ground.

“Not at all. We have looked at our plans. We have looked at how the plan came about and we have dug through our files and we have gone basically all of it and none of those plans show that there was a burial site at that particular place.”

Meanwhile, the Fiji Museum believes further assessment needs to be carried out to substantiate the claims made by the Suvavou Villagers.

The Museum Director Sipiriano Nemani revealed their staff discovered archaeological remanence in the form of pottery sherd over a decade ago however, no further investigation was carried out.

Sudhakar says Fiji Museum needs to understand that they are also on state land.

Local Government Ministry Permanent Secretary, Joshua Wycliffe says the Department of Town and Country planning is now waiting for the submissions from the Suva City Council.