Temple trust on a demolition spree, no info from Endowments dept

Puttur: In a frenzy to ‘develop’ the town’s main thoroughfare, the Mahalingeshwara temple trust in Puttur town, allegedly under the support of the local MLA, has gone on a demolition spree in the past two months. It has demolished ten houses that had been rented out to its workers and is now trying to demolish the Town Women’s police station and a few old iconic shops on the main road of the town.

The citizens of the town alarmed by the widespread demolitions going on are now not just afraid of the temple trust but also worried about the alteration of the town’s landscape and blockage of the town’s natural stormwater drains. It appears the temple trust intimidates the residents by claiming the land belonged to the temple, and they have only a few hours to vacate. In the recent incident, the excavators were parked outside a house ‘allegedly owned by the temple trust’ the entire night, and the demolition began in the first hours of Sunday.

No orders issued by the Endowment Commissioner or any other high official that is mandatory before taking such action. Local temple authorities who are aghast by the trust told this correspondent on terms of anonymity that the MLA Ashok Rai was shielding the temple trust from facing the ire of the people who have been thrown out of their houses.

From another angle, the demolitions have sparked a concern that the town will be robbed of its traditional looks when the police station and an entire block that houses a 50-year-old cool drink and ice cream shop, a newsstand and a Kirana shop, and a few other outlets of the local merchants.

When contacted, a senior official of the Endowments department said that there is a local person who is a representative of the endowments department; he should have brought this to the notice of the commissioner of endowment in Bengaluru.

In another development, the trust has closed about 10 open wells that held water perennially and is onto closing several other open wells, whose action has irked the local residents and elders. Tens of coconut palms and other trees have been felled without the permission of the forest department.

In the melee of the demolitions, the local stormwater drains have been blocked with the debris of the demolished houses and other structures. The demolition squad allegedly brought down a retaining wall built alongside a stormwater drain with the help of loans from the Asian Development Bank, while the repayment is still in progress. The denizens point out that the blockage of stormwater drains will flood a large housing area in central Puttur.

Few elders of the town have raised the issue with the government and a complaint has been filed with the Lokayukta against the perpetrators of the demolition spree.