A day before a Dalit groups protest over the demolition of the Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad forest area here, the AAP government Thursday asked the Delhi Development Authority to immediately initiate the process of denotification of the land from the forest category.
On August 21, Dalit groups had organised a massive protest in at Ramlila Maidan, bringing traffic movement to a standstill. The protesters had turned violent after the police prevented them from moving to the site of the temple, demolished by the DDA on August 10 on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The Dalit groups have given a call for another protest at Jantar Mantar on Friday.
In a letter to DDA Vice Chairman Tarun Kapoor, Delhi's Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said on Thursday, "An early resolution of the matter is required, which would be possible only if the owner of the land, which is the DDA, requests the forest department for denotifying the land from the forest category."
Accordingly you are requested to immediately review the matter and send an appropriate request to the forest department for denotifying the land so that Delhi government can send a proposal to the central government for approval and allotment of land for construction of Sant Ravi Das temple," the letter reads.
The minister urged the DDA to accord "top priority" to the issue as "each day of delay will aggravate the hurt caused to crores of persons belonging to the marginalised communities of India who hold Sant Ravi Das as venerable, derive their meaning of life from his teachings".
The issue also resonated in the monsoon session of the Delhi Assembly.
During debate and discussion, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had demanded that the Centre give at least four acres of land to rebuild the temple either through filing a review petition in the Supreme Court or passing an ordinance at the same site.
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