New Delhi: The recent spat between Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the demolition of religious structures on unauthorized land has escalated with a mix of faith, politics and red-tapism.
Organized by Sisodia press conference last monday Where he said, “LG has alleged that I am sitting on files. I got 19 files for the demolition of 67 temples, six tombs and one gurudwara. I assessed every religious framework. These issues are related to religious sentiments.”
He said that in each case the police report showed that the devotees would oppose the demolition and this could lead to breakdown of law and order. Therefore, he said, he advised the LG to change the structure of the projects.
A day later, LG Saxena alleged That Sisodia was pretending to save structures from demolition.
According to sources at Raj Niwas ThePrint spoke to on Wednesday, files related to the demolition of unauthorized religious structures were pending with Delhi Home Minister Sisodia, leading to stalling of highways, flyovers and government housing projects.
He also said that the Delhi government had cleared the files. “Religious committee under Delhi government’s home department recommended demolition of 23 unauthorized religious structures along the way of the Delhi-Saharanpur Expressway. On 9 December 2022, Sisodia approved the demolition of nine structures and on 1 February 2023, Kejriwal also approved it.
It is wrong to prepare a narrative by holding a press conference after the approval of the files. The files were approved by the Lieutenant Governor on February 8, after getting approval from the Kejriwal government, in which he expressed anger over the delay.
LG asked for file related to religious structures under Sisodia’s department Rule 19(5) Transaction of business rules. As per rule, “The Lieutenant Governor may call for papers relating to any proposal or matter in any Department and such requisition shall be complied with by the Secretary of the Department concerned, who shall also inform the Minister in charge of the Department of the action taken by him. ,
“The government was not taking a decision on these files. All these were projects of national importance which were not being worked on, hence the LG asked for the files,” the official quoted above said.
Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday after nearly nine hours of questioning in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. Meanwhile, ThePrint visited seven of the 74 religious structures to be demolished and found that almost all of them are built on government land. While most are located right in the middle of the road, all of them are called prachin (ancient). Local people everywhere were not in favor of demolishing these structures.
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temple and shrine
On 29 September 2009, the Supreme Court Directed that no unauthorized structure in the name of temple, church, mosque or gurudwara can be sanctioned and all such encroachments should be reviewed by the state and union territory governments.
As also noted by LG Saxena In February 8 fileWho landed in CM Kejriwal’s office after his approvalOn March 14, 2022, the Delhi High Court also said that it is the duty of the government to remove unauthorized structures built on public land.
But red-tapism remains a stumbling block. Files related to infra projects are pending for years. Despite the Supreme Court order, not much has been done to remove religious structures on unauthorized land.
It is not that religious structures were never removed to make way for development. The PWD demolished a portion of the ancient Shiva temple and mosque at ITO on Saturday following the Delhi High Court’s order. In October last year, the PWD had issued a notice to the temple and mosque administration. waqf board propertyAsked them to remove the encroachment, following which the matter went to the Delhi High Court.
Last week, the local people also took out a protest march from ITO to Delhi Gate.
Suresh Beri, associated with the temple administration, told ThePrint that the authorities said the footpath was to be widened for the upcoming G20 summit, so on structure About three and a half meters of land has been removed. We even said in the court that we did not encroach but no one listened to us.
there used to be a temple demolished in Vishwas Nagar, Shahdara, East Delhi in 2018 following a High Court order.
However, the people who run these religious structures say that these are places of faith and have been here for decades.
The ancient Siddha Shri Hanuman Temple located in the middle of Chintamani Chowk in Dilshad Garden is said to be more than 40 years old. Temple priest Satish Sharma told ThePrint that there have been 3-4 meetings with Public Works Department (PWD) officials in about a year.
“We are not against development, but our livelihood is also linked to it. All we want is that we be given an alternate land somewhere nearby for the temple. But the administration has given only verbal assurances.
Chintamani Chowk is a commercial area, and there is no residential colony within 200 meters of it. Abhishek Bhardwaj, who has been running a motor parts shop for nearly two decades, told that the temple is built on GT Road. “Any unauthorized structure should be removed from there,” he added.
In his press conference, Sisodia referred to the police report, according to which if these religious structures are removed, law and order will be badly affected.
The temple situated at Chintamani Chowk comes under Seemapuri police station. A senior police officer told ThePrint that about a year ago, the police headquarters was asked for information about the temple. “We are yet to get the eviction order. We are a law enforcement agency, when the order comes, we will work to maintain law and order,” he said.
The matter of demolition is also stuck due to the issues related to the land. The case of a mazar in Delhi’s Hasanpur is in the court for more than 30 years. Its manager Sufi Mohammad Islam Khan told that someone from Hasanpur village had given this land to his forefathers. He claimed that even in the Delhi Government Gazette of 1986, it has been described as the land of Mazar.
Advocate Mohammad Yameen, who represented the case of Hasanpur Mazar in Patiala House Court, said that there is talk of demolishing the religious structure built on unauthorized land, but the mazar has a revenue record. “The rest of the religious structures do not have revenue records, but our land has not been encroached upon. Still the government has the will, it can do anything (Nevertheless, the government can do whatever it wants).
On 24 January 2023, in a meeting chaired by Geetika Sharma, District Magistrate of Northeast Delhi, PWD Executive Engineer VK Singh was instructed that three religious structures in Northeast Delhi are in the middle of the road. These are Shree Hanuman Mandir, Bhajanpura, Mazar in Bhajanpura and Shree Hanuman Mandir near Loni Golchakkar. It was also said that the encroachment should be removed as per the order of the Supreme Court. ThePrint has seen a copy of the minutes of the meeting.
Opposite the MIG flats in Loni, walking distance from the one near the roundabout, the Hanuman temple is also right in the middle of the road where the PWD is planning to build an underpass. OP Verma, president of the MIG Flats Welfare Association, said, “This temple is very old and people have faith in it. If it is broken, the whole society will protest on the road. We will not let it fall.”
In South Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Srinivaspuri, Kasturba Nagar and Tyagraj Nagar, 49 temples and one mausoleum have been identified for demolition.
When ThePrint visited Sarojini Nagar on Wednesday, it found that these temples have to be demolished because of the policies of the central government. common pool residential accommodation Project to redevelop seven such colonies by 2025. There are also about 10 small temples inside the Sarojini Nagar market which are built on government land.
takes up politics
The issue of breaking of religious structures has been a topic of discussion for the past one week and politics is also taking place on it.
“The politics happening on this issue is unfortunate. A Raj Bhavan official told ThePrint that this was done for clear vested interests and urged Kejriwal to advise his cabinet colleagues to avoid politicizing issues in the name of religion.
Mandi House, a mausoleum just outside Himachal Bhawan, which is also on the list of unauthorized structures, is said to be 250 years old, said its caretaker Akbar Ali Sabri. In September 2022, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) demolished a portion of it, acting on Supreme Court orders.
Sabri said, “Our livelihood is linked to this. People of all religions come here and everyone’s faith is connected. Shah Rukh Khan also used to visit this mazar during his shows. soldier, Was shot in Mandi House area.”
Shoaib Iqbal, AAP MLA from Matia Mahal, told ThePrint that the mausoleum is hundreds of years old. “What LG Sir What he is saying is nonsense, nothing will happen if he says it. it’s dark,” They said.
Neither temple, nor church, nor mosque, nor gurudwara will be demolished in Delhi. Such a situation will not be allowed to arise,” said Iqbal.
However, the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that such matters cannot be decided at the political level.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar told ThePrint that Manish Sisodia is embroiled in several controversies these days, including the liquor scam. “To avoid these controversies, he has come up with Shagufa,” They said.
“Manish Sisodia himself is a member of the religious committee. He has recommended demolishing the structures. And now that the CBI is after him, the timing of his press conference shows that he is making political use of religious sentiments, which is not correct.
However, he said that before taking such decisions one should think of other ways so that the religious sentiments of the people are not hurt.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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