Offending temple

24 September 2008 - 3:34pm — murali772

10-yr old Sri Shirdi Sai Baba temple near Magadi Road is facing a threat of demolition by the BBMP. While the civic agency is backing the decision, saying the temple violates provisions of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, temple authorities allege that their neighbour - wife of a high court judge - influenced the move.

Trustees and devotees met law minister S Suresh Kumar on Monday. The demolition has been put on hold. However, they want more than a temporary respite and are pushing for a permanent end to the demolition threat.

For the full story, click on
epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp

The question is why does it require a High Court judge's wife's complaint for the BBMP authorities to enforce laws. Not just this, there are so many such shrines of all religious denominations sprouting everyday all across the city, in total violation of all rules.

Even in the case of the licensed ones, the BBMP should ensure that they conform to the setback rules, rather than allowing them to blatantly encroach on to the footpaths in total disregard to the inconvenience caused to pedestrians. Also, where existing shrines prove a major traffic hurdle, the BBMP should take initiative to ceremoniously re-locate them to some vacant site nearby.

The law minister would do well to keep out of the matter, and allow the BBMP authorities to enforce the law strictly so that the right message goes across to all such enterprises.

If any one can do anything about this fast spreading menace, it is the BJP government. The Chief Minister should in fact use this opportunity to convey to the public at large that this government is impartial in such matters, particularly when its credibility in the matter of protecting the interests of the minorities in the state is being questioned.

For related stories, click on
praja.in/bangalore/blog/murali772/2008/06/28/shrine-entrepreneurship

Muralidhar Rao

Comments

Illegal temples are a violation of Agama sastras as well

mcadambi - 24 Sep 2008 - 6:37pm

Hindu temple architecture and even Jain and Buddhist ones are covered by a body of scriptures called "agama sastra". These agama sastra-s insist that the law of the land is most supreme and that any temple has to obey such laws. If you notice ancient temples like Srirangapatna, Someshwara temple in Ulsoor, the inner "prakara" or 'set back' in our terms is very wide. This was done to let a lot of people move and ceilings were raised very high so as to let the air circulate and natural lighting was made use of. Hindu temples are a marvel or architecture. Their symmetry is amazing as even incorporate a lot of rain water harvesting techniques. Illegal shrines are a blot on dharma.

Offending Temple

ssheragu - 24 Sep 2008 - 7:38pm

ssheragu I fully agree with mcadambi 1. our Hindu philosophy first tells us to respect the law of the land; in that sense any temple or shrine on pavements creating problems to the public should not be allowed; those who patronise such temples will never be blessed by Gods. 2. of course I am not at all aware of the facts regarding the Sai Baba temple on Magadi Road 3. my comments apply to temples / places of worship which come in the way of public life Srinath Heragu

Same goes with Mosques !

kbsyed61 - 24 Sep 2008 - 7:56pm

The same rule applies to Mosques also. Mosques are required to be built on foundations of PIETY (Fearing GOD) and its care taker also required to hold the highest traditions of the piety and sincerity. PIETY, covers all aspects of rules and regulations i.e adhering to legal means, laws, stop to all transgression on others rights specially the neighbors etc.

It is all about the "LAND"

Rithesh - 24 Sep 2008 - 8:39pm

Read this article - it is about why Shirdi Sai Baba "opened" his eyes sometime back in Bangalore!!! I also read an article sometime back (i am not able to trace the link) which talked about a school who's authorities had built a temple inside the campus to stop the civic authorities from demolishing the school - apparently the school was built illegaly on BDA land!!! People are indeed finding innovative ways to illegaly occupy land.

Religion Vs Law

narayan82 - 24 Sep 2008 - 9:38pm

Some people and parties tend to belive that Religion comes above the law. As I understand - Nobody - comes above the law! It is a dissapointing when people use religion for thier vested interests, and then visit the temple for good luck!

Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore

Temples and parking?

silkboard - 24 Sep 2008 - 11:28pm

I was wondering if temples etc have waivers when it comes to following parking byelaws. Anyone noticed the expasion work underway on a temple at 9th cross, J P Nagar. As it is, vehicles parking and double parking near it have rendered the recent road widening exercise meaningless, wonder what will be the scene after temple expands.

I am no atheist, but was just trying to check if there are any setback or parking laws present in Bangalore's byelaws. Look at Byelwas, Parking section, from BMRDA byelaws for example, (link)

No special mention made of religious places, last row may fit:

Other public and semi-public buildings - 1 car parking for 100 sq.mts. of floor area

gods immuned?

blrsri - 25 Sep 2008 - 5:51am

Any place of worship, either at home or public, are generally clean all the time..we all use incense sticks to purify the air around and keep it silent! It beats me all the time on the other hand, as to why we go about subjecting our gods to all the ills from over populations by putting them in the midst of roads! Air pollution, dust pollution, noise pollution..everything! For gods sake we need to relocate them!

temple complex

rnavada - 25 Sep 2008 - 4:14pm

Tempted to add considering the fact that i live next to a temple. Rajajinagar : Mahalaxmipura. history: when we were alloted the site wayback in 1980, it was a corner site with road marked on both sides. We were told that we were "lucky" since one of the road's width is only 40ft, we will have 15-20 feet "margin" land which we can purchase lateron . One of the roads and the about 3 acres thereon were owned by a "developer". After all legal methods failed to stop BDA from acquiring his land, "ganesha" came up on our site!! My father had to take police force to "transfer" ganesha to neighbouring piece of land. Needless to mention all further acquisition proceedings were dropped and the 3 acre land became a private layout! Now: 40 Ft road is about 20ft. our site is not "corner" site now. We have temple complex with the most feared one , "shanishwara" being the head god of temple complex. Over period of time, ganesh, hanuman and other astrologer favourinte gods have found place... Yes, the local MLA Narendra babu and minister Suresh kumar are annual invitees for ganesha/kannanda rajyotsava etc. Some was talking about setback... be lucky they dont build on the road... "corner site" temple's are an old trick in bangalore to retain revenue land from being acquired. Temple revenue is equally shared by the local MLA/corporator. BTW, we have another competing god in the same road. :"kodandarama " devasthana...poor rama, he is not as powerful(rich) since he is is in middle site.

temple tricks

silkboard - 29 Sep 2008 - 9:07am

So basically, the temples are used for two types of tricks

'Capture' some setback area on both sides of the temple
Retain revenue land from being acquired

Any other trickes? And how would we know how many temples were/are actually built as part of two "tricks" above? Whats the percentage of 'genuine' religious places (they existed long long before the road was widened) vs the 'trick' ones?

rnavada, want to understand one more thing - how does the money go all the way "up" to local MLA/corporator? Is it hear-say, or has anyone heard of this from sources within the temples? Its certainly possible and easy as well, after all the money you and me drop in at various hundis just can't be accounted and tallied.

Need to mark all encroachments on Google map

sanchitnis - 29 Sep 2008 - 7:24pm

I think it will be a good idea if all of us mark all sorts of encroachments near by our house/work-places on google maps (http://www.google.com/help/maps/edit/faq.html). Once there is a fairly large number, it can be a good set of evidence for government to act.

Shiva statue gives DIAL nightmares

mcadambi - 30 Sep 2008 - 4:55pm

http://www.business-stand... "Airline pilots, on their part, said that more than 40 per cent of the new runway, which is currently only used for landing, is unusable because of an adjacent tall statue that comes in its path. For landing purposes, the runway thus becomes even shorter in length than the primary runway. "The aircraft gets a shorter length only when it comes from the side of the statue. However, even that length is good enough for larger aircraft like the A380,” said the DIAL spokesperson."

A T Ramaswamy committee

mcadambi - 30 Sep 2008 - 5:01pm

The A T Ramaswamy committee (ATRC) was constituted under the then CM Shri HDK to survey land encroachments in Bangalore Urban district. What it un-earthed was just the tip of the iceberg. Yet, it noticed that a lot of Muzrai (hindu endowment) temple lands were most encroached. For example, what was one the Tulasi Thotam (Tulasi garden)of Krishna Temple in 11th cross now hosts the famous school - Sri Vidya Mandir - and yes - moral science is taught in that school. Not only a temples victims of land encroachments, but even become the excuse. All of a sudden a Sai Baba temple and ganesh temple sprang up in Nehru Park in Seshadripuram.

money travelling to MLA/corporator's kitty. Its simple silkboard

rnavada - 30 Sep 2008 - 11:53pm

Money travels "upwards" as follows: Temple trust is formed. a manager sits at the temple who literally snatches the "arathi" collection from the poor priest and puts it in a safe(!) place. If the priest complains another one is appointed. On a weekly basis the the trust comittee members meet and share the booty. Being business savy; after weekly pocket money is taken, the balance is given out as "loan" to local people( flower vendors /hawkers etc) Annually the hundi is opened and put in bank a/c with two signing authorities( MLA's kin and trust chairman( corporators father/uncle etc). After that no one knows where the money goes!! the local un-employed youth are given annual dole to conduct ganesha/kannada rajyotsava and the ever favourite annamma festival. Time to time trust members fight and threaten to expose others. then he is immediately given an interest free loan along with his addition to weekly collection troupe. simple isn't it? But care(!) is taken to ensure that no one writes to endowment departmen which has the right to audit any temple. Being a neighbour for 26 yrs, i know this for a fact. To clarify, law minister suresh kumar is not on the take. He is too much of an intellectual to do this. I know him well. He too laments this culture.

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