Pune News: With community sentiments coming to a boil about religious structures being razed for widening roads, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is facing a daunting task in moving some 14 structures that create traffic bottlenecks and stand in the middle of 12 key roads in the city. Despite the administration agreeing to offer alternative sites and bear the construction expenses, many religious bodies are adopting a rigid stand and with political parties also intervening the situation is getting aggravated, say PMC officials.

On Thursday, police had to lathi-charge a mob that gathered to protest the demolition of centuries-old shrine by the anti-encroachment squad of the PMC for widening of the Pune-Ahmednagar highway. Earlier, in May, a group of about 25 youths had ransacked the office of PMC deputy commissioner Dnyandev Thube and damaged three PMT buses and a car after razing of the Mangirbaba Devasthan Samadhi Smarak Mandir at Wakdewadi to facilitate widening of the Pune-Mumbai road.

“Widening of 10 to 12 major roads stands halted because of these religious structures. The PMC has formulated a policy to offer alternative sites and in many cases the PMC has agreed to bear expenses of the new structure,” said deputy commissioner (land and estates) Suraj Mandhre who has initiated shifting of 9 religious structures in the last few months. “The PMC is aware of the religious sentiments and before resorting to shifting of religious structures the community leaders are taken into confidence,” he said.

Maulana Nizamuddin Fakhrudddin of Jamia Nizamia had another take on the issue. “Roads are for public good and big roads are the need of hour. But, before demolishing Rahim Baba Dargah in Yerawada, the PMC did not bother to talk to the Muslim clergy (ulemas). The action was unilateral and carried out in a hasty manner raising doubts about the intention of the civic body,” he said.

According to him, had the PMC consulted senior members of the community and ulemas, much of the tension, law and order problems and generation of communal feelings could have been avoided. “The PMC failed to take the community into confidence,'' he said.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Sandeep Khardekar, while admitting that religious structures hindering smooth traffic should be removed, said the PMC should think of some other alternatives if the structures have historical background. “Also there should not be any kind of discrimination while carrying out the demolition drives,” he said.

Even as the PMC officials are facing the wrath of religious organisations, politicians are clearly trying to gain mileage from the ensuing controversies and score brownie points in a game of one-upmanship.

“In May the general body meeting was adjourned over the shifting of Mangirbaba temple and the corporators were openly critical of what the PMC officials did, which was very disheartening. When the civic body officials are working for the benefit of the city, politicians should not bring in politics for settling scores,” said a senior PMC official, adding that igniting religious sentiments was the easiest way to gain political popularity.

“Actually there is no need for the PMC to reconstruct the illegal structures. But it is being done to assuage religious sentiments that invariably get hurt by the razing of these structures,” said the official.

“One religious body demanded that a huge structure should be constructed on the alternative site if the PMC demolishes the small illegal structure on the roadside. In such cases there is no other option but take recourse to law and demolish the structure without paying heed to their impractical demands,” he said.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen as to how fast the PMC will get on with the demolition of the remaining religious structures that are located in the middle of about a dozen city roads.

by http://cities.expressindia.com