Villagers organise protest against temple demolition

Our Correspondent

Kharar, June 19

Agitated villagers, along with the temple priests, blocked traffic and protest near Mamupur village, Kharar-Morinda highway, against the move to demolish an ancient temple in village Mamupur , for paving way for the 6-laning of Kharar-Ludhiana highway by National Highways Authority of India. 

The dharna was led by Mahant Balbir Nath of Shiv Temple  in the village and Shiv Sena leaders Deepak Dhania and Sanjeev Kumar Singla. 

The protesters said this temple was very old and there were samadhis (graveyards) of many deceased priests in this temple. “Instead of demolishing the temple, some alternative should be found for the 6-laning project,” the protestors demanded. They said a few days ago, some workers tried to demolish the temple, following which they were forced to launch the protest. Gharuan Police Station SHO Jatin Kapoor reached the spot and controlled the situation.

Meanwhile, Mahant Balbir Nath and Shiv Sena leaders said they had met the officials concerned several times in this regard but nothing has been done so for. 

Kharar Tehsildar, Tarsem Singh Mittal, who was appointed the Duty Magistrate, assured the people sitting on the dharna that till a compromise was done between the temple committee and the administration, the temple would not be demolished. However, vehicular traffic was hit hard during the protest and long queues of vehicles were seen piled up on both sides of the road, causing much inconvenience to the commuters.