87 temples demolished in Mysore

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) demolished as many as 87 illegal places of worship in the nine zonal limits on Tuesday.

The demolition drive which began at 4 am was carried out under the supervision of nine assistant commissioners of MCC, who were assisted by 20 engineers, nine excavators, 10 trucks and 100 gangmen.

Of the 145 illegal places of worship identified in the City, 87 were razed to the ground by the end of the day.

A thousand policemen were pressed into service to provide security during the demolition.
The demolition drive was carried out simultaneously on Mahadevapura Road, near SP office, Basaveshwara Road, Ramanuja Road, New Kantharaj Urs Road, Kuvempunagar, Kumbarakoppal Gate (opp PKTB Sanatorium), Hebbal Main Road, Vijayanagar 2nd Stage, Saraswathipuram and other areas in the City.

A verbal duel ensued between officials overseeing the demolition and residents of Kumbarakoppal.  However, explanation offered by officials about the Supreme Court directive helped ease the temper of residents.

Decision on demolishing temples constructed inside parks will be taken at a meeting of the district administration to be convened soon, said officers. Mayor Pushpalatha Chikkanna, MCC Commissioner K S Raykar, Zonal Officers, DCPs Basavaraj Malagathi, P Rajendra Prasad and others were present during the drive.