The Hindu 03.11.2010
Meeting held on removal of illegal places of worship
| District administration identifies 210 illegally built temples and dargahs for demolition |
A chance to defend:Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta, Commissioner of Police Sunil Agarwal and Mysore City Corporation Commissioner K.S. Raykar met with the trustees of various places of worship who have been issued notices to relocate or face demolition, in Mysore on Tuesday.
MYSORE: The district administration set the ball rolling for clearing illegal places of worship from public places here on Tuesday.
Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta, Commissioner of Police Sunil Agarwal and Mysore City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner K.S. Raykar held a meeting with trustees of temples and other places of worship, which have been categorised as illegal for violation of various Acts, including encroachment of public space.
The meeting was attended by trustees of more than 30 temples in zonee 1 and 2 coming under the MCC limits. The Deputy Commissioner drew attention to the Supreme Court directive as per which all illegal places of worship across the country had to be removed by December 31, 2010 and urged the stakeholders to cooperate.
Mr. Raykar said the MCC conducted a survey and had identified 210 places of worship — including temples and dargahs — found to be constructed in violation of the law.
Notices had to be issued to illegal places of worship as on December 7, 2009 to facilitate stakeholders to voluntarily relocate or demolish while the administration would act without any notice on such places which have cropped up after the cut-off date. Out of the 210 places of worship, there were 56 temples around ‘aralikatte' or structures constructed around pipal and banyan trees.
Mr. Raykar said the MCC would take the stakeholders into confidence before acting and urged them to submit any document in support of their claims to preserve the structure.
However, he made it clear that there was no scope for sparing illegal structures.
The stakeholders including the trustees spoke in defence of their respective temples.
