JOIN USBasic infrastructure, including newly laid roads leading to the Sri Kodandarama Temple at Kacharakanahalli, were extensively damaged to facilitate the movement of a huge Hanuman statue on Monday.
Transportation of the huge, 750-tonne monolithic structure has damaged basic infrastructure in and around Hennur main road and HBR Layout for the second consecutive day.
Sri Rama Chaitanya Vardhini Trust has taken up the responsibility to transport the 62-feet-tall statue from Kolar to the Sri Kodandarama Temple at Dakshina Ayodhya Devanagiri in HBR Layout. The temple is situated on what was once the Kacharakanahalli Lake, which has now become barren.
Revenue department has filed a case in the Karnataka High Court saying that close to 56 acres of land has been encroached upon by the trust where the monolith is to be installed. The case is still being heard by the high court.
Besides this, around 3-4 street lights, electric poles, flag posts and branches of a few trees were razed to make way for the statue.
"It is disappointing that the people are failing to look beyond religion and look at the damage that has been caused due to this one statue. We kept asking BBMP authorities to provide good infrastructure and when they indeed delivered, this has happened," said Nadia Zackria, a resident of Hennur.
When questioned about the damage, corporator Padmanabha Reddy said, "This is a duty to God and the temple funds and not taxpayer's money will be used to restore roads. Some Congress workers too have joined us and this just shows that we are all Hindus and are working for our religion."
The temple workers also staged a small protest against Bangalore Development and Town Planning Minister K J George on Monday and called him "anti-Hindu".
"He had stalled the transportation of the statue citing code of conduct violations," said Prashant Reddy, a temple worker.
Meanwhile, BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said an agreement has been made between the BBMP and the trust to restore the roads.
"We will wait for two to three days and see if the roads are restored by the trust. Residents will take further action only after that," said Subramanian K, a resident.