833 religious structures in DK under demolition threat

833 religious structures in DK under demolition threat

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, September 27: DK will lose a number of religious structures if the Supreme Court’s order to demolish every temple, church, mosque, or other religious structure that is included in the unauthorized religious construction list is implemented. A total of 833 religious structures have been marked to be demolished. Bantwal alone has 382 unauthorized constructions while Moodubidri has 23.

Of the 833 religious structures, temples form the majority at 640 with the rest being 151 mosques, 32 churches, and 10 Jain temples. The revenue department has statistics, which reveal that 350 acres of land in DK has been occupied by illegal structures out of which 294 acres of land has been occupied by temples or prayer halls.

Religious organizations have started conducting meetings about the DC’s circular and have also submitted memorandums to the DC. Expressing his concern regarding the issue, Ramesh Nayak, the coordinator of Hindu Jana Jagruti Vedike, said that a number of temples are over 5 – 6 centuries old and they are not even sure where to relocate these historical structures.

DC V. Ponnuraj said that the state government had directed the district administration to complete the work of removing, relocating, and regularizing all unauthorized and illegal constructions before Dec 31, 2010. He said that certain parameters will be taken into consideration while deciding the fate of these structures.

A district-level committee comprising the DC, MCC commissioner, district and taluk level panchayat officers, superintendent of police, PWD executive engineer and assistant commissioner, to mention a few, has been formed to conduct studies on various religious structures. The committee is to begin work within a fortnight and the case study will be concluded at the earliest possible.

Further explaining the matter, he said that each structure needs to be studied in detail and the entire project will require a lot more than the time allotted. The structure will not be demolished until and unless enough study based on certain guidelines has been done, he assured.

The structures will be demolished if constructed on major or minor roads or drains, if it has been disturbing the social and religious harmony of the locality, and if two structures belonging to different communities are constructed too close and are creating communal issues, said the DC.