Demolition drive begins in CB Pur

District has 550 illegal religious structures and city has over 55

Through a survey conducted recently in all taluks, the district administration had marked upto 550 illegal religious structures all over Chikkaballapur district.

Spread out

There were as many as 175 such centres in Chikkaballapur taluk and 56 structures in the city. The list includes temples, mosques and churches. Most of these were built by the roadside in different layouts in the city.

The district administration had gathered information about all the marked religious centres from the City Municipal Council.

Timrazed: The Anjaneyaswamy Temple near Vokkaligara Bhavan in Chikkaballapur was demolished on Saturday by district administration. (R) People watch as a Nagarakatte on B B Road was demolished.

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It had then instructed leaders of these centres on October 31 to vacate the buildings within a week’s time.

Also, the administration had declared that in case of objection to demolition of the centres, applications with related documents were to be submitted to the commissioner.

The first phase of demolition work was started on B B Road. The Anjaneyaswamy Temple built near Vokkaligara Bhavan, the Ashwatthakatte, Nagarakatte and small temples  were brought down using an earth mover and other equipment.

Public curiosity

Although there was no opposition of any form put forth by the citizens, several people had gathered in large numbers on the roads to watch the demolition process with great interest and curiosity.

When questioned, however, people expressed their opinions about the work, speaking both for and against the step taken by the district administration.
Police forces were kept ready at every spot to prevent any untoward incident during the demolition.

District Superintendent of Police Dr T D Pawar, Deputy Divisional Officer Vasanth Kumar, tahsildar Poornima, Circle Inspector Shiva Kumar, Sub-inspectors Munireddy, Niaz Baig and others were present at the spot.