Over 525 illegal Mumbai shrines razed

More than 525 illegal shrines across the city have been demolished in the last two weeks by the civic authorities despite stiff resistance from political parties, especially the Shiv Sena, which plans to take up the issue with the Supreme Court.

Sena's grouse against the demolition drive of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) stems from the feeling that it is only Hindu temples that have become the target of civic authorities.

"Residents have been calling us up to save several temples from being pulled down by the BMC," Mohan Rawle, former MP of Shiv Sena, told Gulf News.

"A Sai Baba temple in Parel was demolished on Tuesday even though other illegal constructions and hawkers obstruct traffic and pedestrian movement.

At Saat Rasta in central Mumbai 3,000 people gathered to block traffic because of the BMC's action," he says.

Former chief minister and leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly Narayan Rane is expected to approach the Supreme Court in the next few days to obtain a stay order on the demolition of temples.

Municipal Commissioner K. Srivastava says that BMC is only carrying out the Bombay High Court's order of September 24 to raze down all illegal shrines.

The ongoing drive is based on the judgement given in a Public Interest Litigation filed by an NGO, Janhit Manch.

He says the BMC has been demolishing only those structures on pavements and roads that obstruct vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The trustees and caretakers of these shrines have already been given a chance to explain their position with documents that the temple existed before 1965, says Saudagar Jadhav, Deputy Public Relations Officer, BMC. According to him, the BMC has been facing no protests from the people during its demolition drive.

But worshippers at a temple at the Gateway of India, where a large number of tourists, local employees and photographers, gather daily for bhajans‚ do not want the bulldozers razing down the temple.

The management of Taj Hotel reportedly intervened since the demolition would also affect an old peepul tree.

According to caretaker Sanjay Markhand Jha the temple is 65 years old but he does not have any document to prove it.

So far, the BMC has demolished 501 temples, 16 Muslim structures, three Buddhist Vihars while the Christian community has demolished on its own four crosses.

The BMC has submitted a list of 857 unauthorised shrines to the court. Earlier, the BMC had plans to raze more than 100 crosses but an application was moved in the High Court by St John the Baptist Church Save Committee and its president Nicholas Almeida.

The court then directed the BMC not to demolish the crosses belonging to the Catholic community until it was proved they were authorised ones.

The applicant's lawyers told the court that the crosses on Carter Road, Bandra, have been declared as Grade-II heritage structures in a government gazette in 1991 whilst the City Survey office, Mumbai Suburban District shows the crosses in Sherly Village, Bandra, Marol, Versova, Irla and Vile Parle in the West are authorised.