482 shrines to be demolished

There are 482 unauthorised religious shrines in the city, which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is soon going to demolish following directions from the Bombay high court.

According to data available with the civic body, Byculla, Dadar and Andheri (west) have the maximum number of illegal religious structures located in the city. E ward, consisting of the Byculla and Mazgaon areas, tops the list with 55 such structures. The G/North ward (Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi) and K/West ward (Andheri west and Juhu) are second and third with 52 and 42 structures respectively. The C ward (Bhuleshwar and Kalbadevi) and F/South (Parel and Sewri) have 40 illegal religious shrines each.

On the other hand, B ward (Dongri and Mandvi) and R/Central (Borivali) do not have a single illegal shrine, whereas R/North (Dahisar) has only one such structure.

The civic data says that out of the total of 482 such structures, more than 85 per cent belong to the majority Hindu community. The remaining shrines are for the Muslim, Christian and Buddhist communities, whereas Sikhs and Jains have only one illegal shrine each.

As per the HC directives, the BMC has decided to expedite the demolition process of these structures. Civic officials have said that the HC has given them time till November 2017 to remove these structures.

The BMC had identified 739 illegal religious structures in the city, which have come up after the cut-off date of September 29, 2009. Of them, 207 belong to the A category, whereas 532 are from the B category. Category A was for those religious structures that did not interfere with the city’s development plan (DP) and can be regularised. The category B ones, however, interfere with the DP and need to be demolished.

The BMC had invited suggestions and objections from people on the 532 category B structures, to which it received 212 responses. The civic body then held hearings on the public feedback and finalised the list of 482 unauthorised religious structures in the city.

“The HC has given us time till November next year to remove 482 illegal shrines. The process for the demolition of these structures has already been initiated. We have asked all assistant and deputy commissioners concerned to expedite the demolition action,” said Milind Sawant, deputy municipal commissioner, removal of encroachments department.

Meanwhile, the HC has also given the government time till December 2016 to remove, shift or relocate all illegal shrines in the entire state. It is likely to pass an order on this issue on October 1.