Protest forces BBMP to drop canteen on temple premises

Giving in to the protest by the residents of Chamarajpet in southern Bengaluru, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Tuesday dropped the plan of constructing an Indira Canteen on the premises of the ancient Rameshwara temple in the locality.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Palike started to rebuild the compound wall of the temple, which it had demolished for constructing the canteen.

 The civic body received flak from the local residents when it demolished the compound wall on Monday night as the temple holds a rich history of about 300 years.

The residents continued their protest on Tuesday morning as well.

The protest was withdrawn only after the former corporator of the area Chandrashekar, husband of present councillor Kokila Chandrashekar, came to the place and assured the residents that the compound wall will be rebuilt and the canteen will be relocated to some other place in the ward.

Kokila said, “We were looking at two other places before finalising the Rameshwara temple premises. One place was near the Aiyyappa Swamy temple and the other was near the flyover. Now, we will see if these places can be considered.” 

Anandatheertha, a local resident and an activist, said that it was a political game played by the Congress and the BJP as the Assembly elections are nearing. “It is outrageous that BBMP has decided to construct a canteen without consulting the local residents. Not only that, since the elections are round the corner, leaders of both the parties are trying to make use this issue for their personal gains,” he said.

‘Sanctity will be lost’

Former councillor and BJP leader B V Ganesh, who led the protest, said the sanctity of the temple will be lost if a canteen is built on its premises.

“We are not against the construction of the canteen. It is going to be beneficial to the citizens. We are just against the way in which they are implementing the project,” said Ganesh.

Vote bank politics

Meanwhile, members of the Indian Youth Congress staged a protest against Ganesh in front of the BBMP office terming him anti-poor.

“He is just playing vote bank politics using this issue, while we are working towards making Karnataka a hunger-free state,” said Youth Congress leader S Manohar.