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Oh God! You are a headache for GHMC
Highlights
Oh God! You are a Headache for GHMC, Temples on the Road, Greater Hyderabad Resident’s Forum. Now this is increasingly becoming a trend. Whenever development projects are undertaken in the city, most of the time, illegal religious structures turn into bottlenecks
Unauthorised religious structures hindering development
Now this is increasingly becoming a trend. Whenever development projects are undertaken in the city, most of the time, illegal religious structures turn into bottlenecks. As a result, the project has to be tweaked to keep religious structures out of harm’s way. A lot of time is wasted while negotiating with the owners or organizations. Now the GHMC has come up with an action plan to solve this issue
In the ongoing race of religious structures versus developmental projects, it seems as though the religious heads have an upper hand. In recent times, it has become quite evident that religious structures have been given more latitude by the civic authorities so as to avoid any friction. But in the process, there are many developmental projects that are hitting the roadblock due to the leeway given to them. Religious leaders seem to be taking advantage of the scenario, as there are many such smaller religious sites encroaching on public spaces.
A civil society organisation, Greater Hyderabad Resident’s Forum (GHRF), recently held a Roundtable Conference with many residential authorities and alleged that the GHMC was indifferent towards encroached religious structures.
In the meeting, they also came to the conclusion that this attitude is, in turn, encouraging the construction of more religious structures.
Encroachments hindering development
A PIL filed by GHRF three years ago is pending in the AP High Court. In January this year, the state government informed the AP High Court that it would remove all the encroaching religious structures on roads in a phased manner. Advocate general D V Seetharama Murthy told the court that the GHMC would remove 25 structures in the first phase by March, and 86 structures by the end of July in phase II. The remaining structures, he said, would be removed in phase III. But, this proposal still remains on paper without any action.
Seetharama Murthy also stated that a committee would be constituted to negotiate with religious leaders so that they could come to terms with the relocation or removal of the structure. But nothing seem to have moved on this front either.
M Srinivas, president, GHRF, said, “A number of footpaths, roads and by-lanes are encroached by religious structures, be it big or small. They are a hindrance to traffic and developmental activities alike. Though we have filed a PIL three years ago, till date no action has been taken. All the developmental projects are conveniently modified to not harm these structures. For instance, the flyover at Towlichowki X Roads has been split into two just to keep the temple and dargah on the road out of harm’s way. Similarly the Balkampet Flyover was designed in such a way so as not to harm an encroached temple which has been there for years. This is not only increasing the time a project takes, but also escalating the cost. The authorities are being dictated by the religious heads.”
The GHRF has given a representation to the GHMC in this regard and has asked the authorities to display the number of unauthorised religious structures on their website, for the people to know.
Somesh Kumar, Commissioner, GHMC, says, “It has been brought to our notice. We have started the procedure of identifying the buildings. We have a plan to tackle issues of these structures without causing any communal friction.”
Mahashringa Dasa, ITPC-Chairman, ISKCON, Secunderabad, said that they were issued a notice by the GHMC to which they had replied to the effect that they would not stray away from their intentions. On the other hand, he confirmed that no committee had approached them for negotiations, with respect to the removal or relocation of the temple.
Asked about communal friction in this due process, Srinivas said, “There is bound to be friction, but they have to be achieved for the greater good. In Mumbai, the BMC has issued notices to 570 such religious sites. When they can do it why can’t we?”
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