All parties on board to legalise new temple
THE ORIGINAL TEMPLE WAS DEMOLISHED ON DELHI HIGH COURT ORDERS AS IT FELL IN THE COURSE OF CHANDNI CHOWK REVAMP WORK
NEW DELHI: All political parties in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Tuesday came to a consensus to “support” a proposal to grant legal status to a makeshift structure that has come up in place of a recently demolished Hanuman temple on the central verge of main Chandni Chowk road.
The decision was taken in an all-party meeting called by north corporation mayor Jai Prakash on Tuesday.
The original temple was demolished by the north civic body on January 3 on Delhi high court orders as it fell in the course of the redevelopment work. The makeshift structure was set up by locals on the central verge of the main road in Chandni Chowk on Thursday.
The proposal to grant legal status will be brought in the house meeting on Thursday and then sent to the Delhi government for final approval before implementation.
Prakash said, “The consensus to save the makeshift Hanuman temple was agreed to at the joint meeting. We all agreed to supchowk port the decision with a positive mind. Being in majority, we could have passed the proposal on our own, but we want to take everyone on board. We will send the proposal to the Delhi government and also to the religious committee for the final nod, so that legal status can be granted to the temple.”
Although the opposition parties supported the cause, but they also blamed Bjp–ruled civic body for not taking their consensus before filing an affidavit in the high court, which could have saved the structure could have been saved.
Vikas Goel, leader of Opposition in the north corporation, said that the Aam Aadmi Party supports the decision to pass a proposal for saving the makeshift structure in Chandni but the civic agency, if wanted, could have also saved the original temple from demolition.
“We have always been in support of saving the temple, but it was the north municipality that demolished it. The BJP is just doing politics on the temple issue. Rather than filing an affidavit in court, they could have given justification for not demolishing the structure,” he said.
Mukesh Goel, senior Congress leader and councillor, who also attended the meeting, said that his party was in support of the proposal to save the temple.
“We also want new structure to remain at the place it has come up. It is anyway not encroaching upon the main road. However, the BJP, if they wanted, could have saved the original temple from demolition.
Meanwhile, vice president of Delhi Congress Mudit Aggrawal also wrote a letter to the lieutenant governor and requested him to grant legal status to the makeshift temple for the sake of the faith of residents of Chandni Chowk.