Andhra: Temple demolished as part of road-widening exercise, BJP terms it dual stance by state govt

The Kanakadurga Malleswara Swamy temple in the Kolli Sarada market area here was demolished as part of a road-widening plan after another temple at an alternate piece of land was constructed, said city planner of the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Thursday.

"There was a road-widening plan under which the temple was to be removed. Corporation authorities had already negotiated with temple committee members and given them an alternative site at a distance of hardly 200 meters. A new temple is also constructed there," the city planner told ANI over phone.

"Yesterday, the officials had asked the temple committee to vacate the place as they want to start the road widening work, accordingly, the temple was vacated. Meanwhile, some people tried to raise objections but the temple was finally vacated and the GMC personnel started the demolition work," he added.

 

Police too had been deployed at the site as a precautionary measure to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. The sub-inspector of Old Guntur police station too confirmed that the deployment of force was done as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Lanka Dinakar alleged that the demolition was carried out by the GMC officials without giving prior notice and termed it a dual stand by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP government in the state.

"Demolition of the Durga Malleswara Temple took place in Guntur of Andhra Pradesh without any prior notice. We condemn these acts, there is a practice that Hindu temples are considered as a revenue-generating source for the government in Andhra Pradesh," Dinakar told ANI here.

"Recently the room rents, darshan fees fixed for certain section of people for priority darshan and laddu prices have been raised and on the other hand, the assistance for Jerusalem pilgrimages has been raised up to Rs 60,000. The cost of the proposed Lord Venkateswara Temple in Amaravathi has been reduced from 150 crores to just Rs 30 crores by altering the original plan and infrastructure around it. How far will this kind of dual stand be maintained by the Jaganmohan Reddy government," he said.