DK illegal religious structures to go

SC order will apply to 640 temples, 151 mosques

As per the documents available with Deccan Herald, 833 places of worship in Dakshina Kannada alone have been listed for demolition.

At 640, temples constructed unauthorisedly constitute an overwhelming majority of the 833 constructions identified for demolition, while 151 mosques, 32 churches and 10 Jain temples have also made the first list.

According to the statistics available at Revenue Department's office, approximately 350 acres of land in the district is occupied by illegal religious structures out of which 294 acres of land is occupied by temples or prayer halls.

Bantwal taluk tops the list with 382 unauthorised constructions, while Moodbidri taluk has the least - 23.

After receiving the circular from the DC’s office various religious organisations have started holding meetings and have also submitted plea to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard.

“We are quite apprehensive about the notice received from DC’s office ordering the religious institution authorities to vacate the building with in a week of receiving notice.

As there are lot of temples in the district with a history of 500-600 years, it is a matter of our concern now. We are not even sure about where to relocate the religious centres,” said Hindu Jana Jagruti Vedike Co-ordinator Ramesh Nayak.

When contacted Deputy Commissioner V Ponnuraj he said the State Government had directed the district administration to complete all the process i.e. removing, relocating and regularising the unauthorised constructions before December 31, 2010.

Ponnuraj said the fate of the religious structures will be decided based on certain parameters. Further he added that the committee will start its process within next 15 days and the case study work will be finished at the earliest.

“As we are required to study each construction case by case, it would take more than the allotted time to complete the work. However, the decision to demolish construction will be taken after the study, based on certain guidelines,” he said.

To study the cases, a District Level committee has been formed comprising the Deputy Commissioner, MCC Commissioner, district and taluk pachayat officers, Superintendent of Police, PWD Executive Engineer and Assistant Commissioner among others.

Parameters

*  Structures would be demolished If it is built on major and minor roads, or on drains.
*  Structure will be demolished or relocated if the structure has been troubling the social and religious harmony of the location.
*  If the religious centres belonging to two communities have been set up in near by places and are causing communal problem, they will bedemolished.