The Shivajinagar Land Dispute
On 15/7 morning I read a newspaper article on the land dispute in Shivajinagar. I have been following the story very closely as I was curious what shape it will take. First we live very close to the area. There was police protection to the disputed site. Second, wanted to know how far the police would go in enforcing the law of the land where religion was invovled.
For the uninitiated, the state public works department (PWD) started to work on a piece of land. The plan is to build a post graduate students hostel for students of Bowring Hospital. This land is sandwiched between the Shivajinagar Bus Stand and a Mosque. The Mosque had laid claim to the land, stating that it belonged to the Mosque.
This dispute first was resolved by BDA who after verification stated the land belonged to the state. Later on, the dispute went to the Karnataka High Court, which passed the order in favor of the state. YET, there was a police presence at the site and every time the PWD started work, crowds would gather to pressure the PWD to stop the work.
According to the newspaper report, the PWD started work on 14/7, just a bhoomi puja. They did some token work as "aashada maasa" was starting 15/7. Rumors were spread that the PWD workers had destroyed a tomb and cemented the place. A huge crowd gathered at the site and mosque. These situations are very volatile, just waiting for the first spark.
The police on their part, have done an excellent job here. The matter could have easily gone out of hand. The police could not have gone around showing a court order. So what did they do? If people claimed there was indeed a tomb, the police allowed mosque authorities to dig! The picture in the news paper report shows a deep trench, with only earth, and nothing else. The police had the presence of mind to have all the community leaders/ elders on site to witness. they made the leaders announce over PAS the result of the digging expedition. Now there is no contest, no claim, no doubt.
The police have closed the issue once and for all. This issue could have dragged on, and every time some local politician needed some mileage could have raked the issue up. Sad to note that despite the highest Judicial authority giving a clear judgement, the PWD could not start work. Hats off to the Police officer (needs to be verified, the police officer mentioned in the newspaper report is DCP Mr. Bipin Gopalkrishna) for some real common sense thinking!
On 15/7 morning I read a newspaper article on the land dispute in Shivajinagar. I have been following the story very closely as I was curious what shape it will take. First we live very close to the area. There was police protection to the disputed site. Second, wanted to know how far the police would go in enforcing the law of the land where religion was invovled.
For the uninitiated, the state public works department (PWD) started to work on a piece of land. The plan is to build a post graduate students hostel for students of Bowring Hospital. This land is sandwiched between the Shivajinagar Bus Stand and a Mosque. The Mosque had laid claim to the land, stating that it belonged to the Mosque.
This dispute first was resolved by BDA who after verification stated the land belonged to the state. Later on, the dispute went to the Karnataka High Court, which passed the order in favor of the state. YET, there was a police presence at the site and every time the PWD started work, crowds would gather to pressure the PWD to stop the work.
According to the newspaper report, the PWD started work on 14/7, just a bhoomi puja. They did some token work as "aashada maasa" was starting 15/7. Rumors were spread that the PWD workers had destroyed a tomb and cemented the place. A huge crowd gathered at the site and mosque. These situations are very volatile, just waiting for the first spark.
The police on their part, have done an excellent job here. The matter could have easily gone out of hand. The police could not have gone around showing a court order. So what did they do? If people claimed there was indeed a tomb, the police allowed mosque authorities to dig! The picture in the news paper report shows a deep trench, with only earth, and nothing else. The police had the presence of mind to have all the community leaders/ elders on site to witness. they made the leaders announce over PAS the result of the digging expedition. Now there is no contest, no claim, no doubt.
The police have closed the issue once and for all. This issue could have dragged on, and every time some local politician needed some mileage could have raked the issue up. Sad to note that despite the highest Judicial authority giving a clear judgement, the PWD could not start work. Hats off to the Police officer (needs to be verified, the police officer mentioned in the newspaper report is DCP Mr. Bipin Gopalkrishna) for some real common sense thinking!
Labels: bangalore, bengaluru, land dispute, shivajinagar, shivajinagara
posted by Thanmaya at
7:53 AM
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