Mysuru district administration has received a notice from the Karnataka government over its drive to remove unauthorised religious structures in its jurisdiction.
Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Gautham said, “We are gathering the information and we will submit a complete report to the government.”
The district administration had begun a drive against unauthorised religious structures in public places on the basis of directions issued by the Karnataka government in 2010 following an order from the Supreme court in 2009. Apart from taking action against such unauthorised structures in various parts of the district, the Mysuru district administration had identified 93 such places of worship in Mysuru city and drawn up dates to initiate action against them.
On September 14, when reporters asked Mr. Gautham about the status of the drive, he said, “We will follow government’s instructions. For the time being, we are waiting and watching… the matter is sub-judice. I cannot comment further”. However, he said there will not be any ‘aggravation’ of the situation.
He refused to divulge the contents of the notice, which he described as ‘official correspondence about the issue (demolition of unauthorised religious structures)’.
Mr. Gautham said the tahsildar of Nanjangud too has received a notice regarding the demolition of a temple. “He will also submit a report,” he added.
The Mysuru district administration’s action against unauthorised religious structures was criticised by political parties.
On September 13, BJP MP Pratap Simha claimed that he had drawn the attention of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to the issue and the latter had promised to review the list of unauthorised religious structures submitted to the court by the government.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah had condemned the demolition of an ancient temple in Nanjangud. He had criticised the BJP government for demolishing the structure without consulting people of the region and hurting their religious sentiments.
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JD(S) MLAs G.T. Deve Gowda (Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency) and S.R. Mahesh (K.R. Nagar) had expressed concern about the hurt to the religious sentiments of people on account of the district administration’s action.
