Controversy, BJP dispensation would have liked to avoid

NEW DELHI: MPs, including BJP leader and former Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatraya, have opposed the Civil Aviation department’s move to restrict the height of iconic Lord Shiva’s towering idol located near Delhi-Haryana border — a controversy the Centre would rather have avoided.

Ravi S.Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

MPs, including BJP leader and former Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatraya, have opposed the Civil Aviation department’s move to restrict the height of iconic Lord Shiva’s towering idol located near Delhi-Haryana border — a controversy the Centre would rather have avoided.

The MPs voiced concerns of devotees at department’s pitch to reduce the height in view of safety operations of aeroplanes at runway 29-L at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI).

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Prasanna Kumar Patsani is the other MP who has opposed the move.

The Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued notice to the Jaya Shree Charity Trust of the Birlas, which manages the complex housing the questioning the idol’s height.

The authorities want the 252-metre high idol to be reduced by 12 metre. It was installed in 1989 observing Hindu rituals of “Pran Pratistha” at a ceremony chaired by former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Referring to the DGCA notice, Dattatraya has written a letter to Civil Aviation Ministry that the new runway 29-L was constructed in 2008-2009, much after installation of the idol.

It was installed after getting no-objection certificate and clearance from AAI. Hence, the runway was not feasible. “The idol cannot be tampered or shifted at all as sentiments of lakhs of devotees are attached to it.”

The Jaya Shree Trust has written to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu saying that the idol was installed as per rules.

The then BJP MP from Sonepat (Haryana) late Kishan Singh Sangwan had also written a letter to the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on September 26, 2005, asking to design the 29-L runway (then at a proposal stage) in such a manner so that Hindu sentiments were not affected.

Those opposing the DGCA move, demand that the edge of the runway be pushed further towards threshold (touchdown point). Because of its height, the idol has assumed a towering religio-cultural presence. It has become an important landmark and a tourist centre, also an attraction for foreigners.

It is conspicuous because the high density Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (national highway-6) connects about seven states with the national capital. Chaudhary Mahender Singh of 360 Sarvakhap Sarvapanchyat (cluster of 360 villages -- six in Delhi and remaining located in Gurgaon, Mewat and Rewari districts in Haryana) condemned the move of the authorities which affected sentiment of large number of people.

Rakesh Sharma, a resident of Gurgaon who has been visiting the idol for more than two decades, alleged that the authorities were callous to feelings of Hindus. Once “Pran Pratistha” is been conducted to an idol, neither it can be tinkered with structurally, nor be shifted.