The Indian Express                 29.10.2013

300 down in 2 yrs, PMC now targets 600 more

After removing around 300 unauthorised religious structures at public
places under its jurisdiction, the Pune Municipal Corporation has
decided to act against the remaining 600 of them in phases.

“PMC has been taking action against unauthorised religious
structures with the help of police. However, the action is being taken
after convincing the local leaders to avoid any law and order problem,”
said Madhav Jagtap, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, in-charge of the
anti-encroachment department.

He claimed that the civic administration had removed 300
religious structures in the last two years. “We have been sending
reports to the state government on a regular basis as an affidavit has
to be filed in the Supreme Court on the action taken against
unauthorised religious structures,” Jagtap said.

Local leaders, both political and religious, are approached by
the civic administration to convince them about the need to remove the
unauthorised religious structures that cause problems in infrastructure
projects. Jagtap said: “It is only after convincing the local leaders
that the civic administration goes ahead with removing or shifting the
religious structures that block roads, footpath or any other civic
infrastructure project.”

The state government had issued a resolution in October 2011
after the Supreme Court’s directions to all state governments to
initiate action against unauthorised religious structures. In PMC areas,
the unauthorised religious structures exist on roads, footpaths,
gardens, hills and plots reserved for civic amenities.

Accordingly, a committee headed by the municipal commissioner and
with the police commissioner and the district collector as members, was
formed to plan on implementation of the Supreme Court directive and the
government resolution.

The PMC had carried out a survey in February 2011 to list the
unauthorised religious structures and identified 943 of them, including
38 under the jurisdiction of the Pune rural police, 461 in Zone 1, 223
in Zone 2, 70 in Zone 3 and 151 in Zone 4. Most of these are small in
size but eat into road and footpath space.