Despite SC order, illegal religious structures mushroom in Karnataka

Nearly 1,242 new illegal religious structures came up in public places in Karnataka after the Supreme Court issued orders in 2009 to ‘demolish/relocate/ regulate’ unauthorised structures from public places.

Of them, only 1,054 have been demolished so far, while remaining 188 await a date for demolition. Not just the Supreme Court, even the Karnataka High Court in December 2020 rapped on the knuckles of the state government for not implementing the apex court’s order. In spite of that, the State government seems to be ‘reluctant’ in clearing the encroachments from public places.

According to a letter by State Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar to deputy commissioners on July 1, 2021, Karnataka has 6,395 unauthorised religious structures in public places. The number of such structures was 5,688 on 29 September, 2009. In 12 years the State government was able to ‘demolish/relocate/ regulate’ only 2,887 temples, mosques, churches and other religious structures.

Speaking to DH, Ravi Kumar conceded that demolition drive is taking place at a slow pace. “We have been implementing the Supreme Court order to demolish/relocate/ regulate’ unauthorised structures from public places that existed before 2009 and demolishing such structure that came after the apex court orders. However, the pace is a bit slow. Deputy commissioners have been asked to file an affidavit on their action plans to address unauthorized structure before the Karnataka High Court before August 12,” he said.

His letter also instructed district administrations and urban local body officials to prepare and execute a plan of action for demolition of at least one illegal religious structure per taluk and per division every week.

Dakshina Kannada tops

According to the documents attached along with the letter, Dakshina Kannada (1,579) district has the highest number of unauthorised religious structures in public places followed by Shivamogga (740), Belagavi (612), Kolar (397), Bagalkot (352), Dharwad (324), Mysuru (315) and Koppal (306).

Ballari, which had zero unauthorised religious structure on 29 September 2009 saw 410 such structures in public places. However, the district administration has ensured that all of them were demolished.

Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil said eviction of each illegal religious place has its own challenge. “Few days ago, we got one religious place evicted in a rural area. The residents of those area ‘cursed’ the officials and driver for demolishing the structure. Three days later, the driver died. Now none of the earth-moving machine drivers are willing to join the demolition drive,” he said.