Midnight action at Maaldhakka amid heavy police presence
Midnight action at Maaldhakka amid heavy police presence
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Two temples were razed near Maaldhakka late at night near the Pune railway station bus stand as part of the ongoing drive by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) against unauthorised religious places. The demolition squad started its work just before 12 am, with two earthmovers, a few engineers and a ward official.
The PMC drive is in accordance with a Supreme Court order to demolish illegal religious structures.
An entire lane of the road was blocked by the police, who were present in large numbers to prevent riot-like situations and possible cases of stone-pelting. A 6x6 sq ft Hanuman Mandir and a 12x6 sq ft Swami Samartha Mandir were demolished.
PMC officials present at the site said that they were surprised to receiving active support from people during the demolition drive.
Nandakumar Ranadhir (48), head priest of the Swami Samartha Mandir, said that he held no grudges against the PMC for bringing down religious structures for development.
"They are doing this for the betterment of infrastructure amenities and roads so that citizens will not have to face traffic jams. I also appeal to all managers of religious structures to not keep running their holy places illegally on government land," said Ranadhir. "The PMC is not doing it for its personal benefit but that of the people."
The temple had stood on the spot for 23 years.
The drive was carried out under the direction of Deputy Commissioner (Zone II) Bhanudas Shinde and Ward Officer from Dhole Patil Road Arun Khilari.
Khilari said that he had expected a lot of resistance from devotees and the temple managers, but on the contrary people seemed to have accepted the campaign as necessary.
"People have been cooperating very enthusiastically with us. They have finally realised that civic sense and the larger public good comes before religious sentiments," said Khilari.
He added that there had been voluntary demolitions by managers of holy places in areas like Sohrab Hall, Ladkatwadi and Tadiwala Road.
"They intimated us that they would themselves bring down the structures the moment they received demolition notices from us," said Khilari.
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