The high court on Friday said no church, temple or masjid should exist in public sites and asked the state government to come out with a uniform stand within two weeks. It asked the government what action it proposes to take about places of worship encroaching upon civic amenity sites and other public properties.
"No church, temple or masjid in public sites, this is the stand of judiciary. It seems you are afraid to take any decision. There should be no sentimentalities in this issue," the division Bench headed by the chief justice remarked while hearing a PIL connected to encroachment of Lakshmana Rau Park in Okalipuram area.
For the full story, click on:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bangalore/No-shrines-on-public-sites-HC-tells-govt/articleshow/4237411.cms
If any one can do anything about this menace, it is the BJP government. The Chief Minister needs to show statesmanship here, make the statement that he will not allow religion to be misused in this fashion, and have all the temples removed/ shifted, where required say over one grand city-wide "Satyanarayana Pooja". Once he sets an example with the temples, it will not be difficult to convince the other religious leaders to follow suit.
For more on that, click on: http://praja.in/bangalore/blog/murali772/2008/06/28/shrine-entrepreneurship
Muralidhar Rao
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Lets List encroachments known to us.
This is the worst form of respect given to any gods, by building worship centers illegally on Roads, foothpaths, parks, etc.
It is right for the court to take a rational view and press for uniform law without leaving it to superstitious and insecure politicians.
To be on right side of law, I fear no wrath of gods and want to start listing encroachments known to me.
If everybody joins, we can compile a list and submit it to the court for further action.
1. RV Road / Teachers college junction
2. Kanakapura Road / Ring road junction
3. TCM Royan Road , Cotton pet road
4. NR Road under flyover
5. Palace Road, (widening with temple as island !!)
6. Movieland / Kapali theatre road.
7. yediyur lake road.
8. Thyagaraja Nagar road. (many)
Disrespectful
This is a very important issue. All temples need to be approved like any other structure and built on proper sites. I agree wholeheartedly that we pay disrespect by building on roadsides. I read sometime back on what is essential for a place to be called a place of worship. (I will try to find something similar online, but a discussion on that we have to take to somebody elses blog).
Now there are 2 ways this could go. The current govt could turn a blind eye to this thinking it will hurt sentiments and they shouldnt be the one doing this or they could use it as an opportunity to bring some respect and order to our god and godesses by relocating them to proper temples.
Murali avare you are so right who else but BJP can/should be doing this.
re: Lets List encroachments known to us.
Hilarious, but True
Blrpraj,
You are so correct !
Most of the shrines are in violation, barring a few. Visibly, though it might not seem so as we observe only the ones that are obvious whilst we move about the city.
Won't invoke devotion, but cause nusiance to public..
It may be true that most worship centers violate building laws.
But there are many which come up on roadside and cause immense problem to public.
These are the once I am trying to list and submit to court for action.
They block free movement of traffic and pedestrians. On special events whole road is occupied and traffic diverted.
As it is road & footpaths are narrow and these structures in middle which are "above laws of mortals" are a nuisance.
It is a case of shrine entrenepeurship to make money as pointed out by Mr. Muralidhar. There are numerous instance like the Sai baba temple episode in Magadi Road where miracles happened to prevent demolition !!
Long back a kannada movie called "Udbhava" by Anantnag had highlighted how a temple came up overnight to prevent widening of road.
Old temples on roadside may be relocated by civic authorities and new ones (< 10 years) be pulled down without any consideration.
I am sure gods would be happy to be out of such polluted environment !!
I dont know how easy it would be.
Its great that the high court has decided in favour of removal of religious buildings which encroach but I dont know how easy it would be. Recall that even Narendra Modi, whose Hindutva credentials are unquestionable, had to back down on this. And BSY is no Modi. So one has to see.
What I have noticed is that many new housing projects build a temple close to the entrance so that if in the future there is some need to take over their land it becomes more difficult.
And I have noticed how these temples grow - on 17th cross and 8th main in Malleswaram there was a rock behind a Mother Diary or Nandini shop. Now it has morphed into a large closed temple which periodically takes over the adjacent road for their functions - inconveniencing one and all. And blares `music' till late at night as it appears that in this country, all the gods, irrespective of their religion, suffer from hearing disabilities.
However, one can also use this to ones advantage - I noticed that on Mysore road the only surviving trees are those with some makeshift temple on them. So this can be used as a strategy to stop the mindess hacking of trees that has become the favourite pastime of the BBMP.
I dont know, though. As time progresses I have become increasingly pessimistic about the future of this city. There is just too much corruption.
Go ahead BBMP, Gods will appreciate
BBMP men in a special drive organised to demolish unauthorised constructions brought down the Renuka Yellamma temple as it had been constructed on the government land. Angered by this, residents protested and later ransacked the BBMP office (in ward number 95 at Kaval Byrasandra) and destroyed furniture. Towards the evening the police intervened and resorted to mild lathicharge as protesters intensified their stir. Six people were taken into custody. The idols were shifted to a safe place before the structure was razed, sources said.
For the full report, click on:
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Temple+demolition+invites+residents%E2%80%99+wrath&artid=xxier4s5m6Q=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=
Hope this marks the beginning of a new approach on the part of BBMP
Muralidhar Rao
Demolish the temple on Palace Road
route for more 'punya'
Minister for Housing and Endowment Krishnaiah Setty informed that a total of 34,000 temples maintained by the government in the state would be renovated and developed at a cost of Rs 900 crore in the next four years by the Endowment Department.
For the full text of the report in the New Indian Express, click here
In the on-going road-widening exercise in the city, the BJP government has not in the least been considerate to the immense tree wealth, that has been the pride of our city, inspite of the close association between Gods and trees as told to us in the Hindu scriptures. But, when it comes to temples, not only have they been left as they are, inspite of most of them being illegal, but now, on top of it all, the government wants to use the tax payers' money to renovate them.
Shouldn't the minister instead be using a part of this money to move the Gods away from the centre of the roads so that they are a little more comfortable and not subjected to the kind of pollution that ordinary mortals are subjected to on a daily basis? He and his government will perhaps earn more 'punya' that way.
Muralidhar Rao
So where should the Gods reside
Can the govt. allot land for temples ? Or mosques and churches for that matter ? Should these be bought with private money at prevalent land rates ? Or should be they be subsidised on par with parks and schools ?
In my perspective, the overall impact can be quite positive. I have seen temples improve the quality of life appreciably in my neighbourhood, specially for senior citizens, as a cultural meeting point, place of calm and such. But how to distribute land can become tricky and fraught with political implications.
The reason I bring this up is we need to figure out how to give a place for these first, then we can go about banning it everywhere else. But either way, there is no easy solution.
Suhas
Suhas
Why lock up gods on streets/footpaths, next to Bars/mutton shop
God, forgive these human beings because they know not what they are doing; you are omnipotent and omnipresent and I beg you to forgive these mortals.
- I for one have kept you in the sanctum sanctorum of my heart - my Degula and at any cost I would not allow you to go out on to the streets to be locked up by a Poojari on a footpath, next to a mutton stall or next to bar.
- Vasanthkumar Mysoremath