Temple demolition sparks tension in Karimnagar

Karimnagar: Demolition of a temple sparked tension in Karimnagar town on Saturday. The Navagraha temple constructed recently near Hanuman temple, besides the helipad of the District Collectorate, was demolished on Friday night. The Revenue officials removed the structure as it was constructed illegally on the government land.

After coming to know about the incident, local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and other right wing activists rushed to the spot on Friday night itself and registered their protest. They raised slogans against the District Collector and Tahsildar for issuing orders for pulling down the temple.

On Saturday also they staged dharna at Prathima Chowk, suspending the vehicular traffic for about 15 minutes.

The police rushed to the spot and cleared the traffic by arresting a few of the agitators. BJP Karimnagar constituency in-charge Bandi Sanjay and others were taken into custody and shifted to police station.

The district administration became alert and started taking up damage control measures by laying foundation stone for the reconstruction of the temple at the same location. Local MLA Gangula Kamalakar initiated construction works by breaking a coconut on Saturday morning.

The police officials made tight security arrangements at important installations like temples and other religious places to avert any untoward incidents. Cops cordoned-off the surrounding areas of the disputed place and nobody was allowed to enter into the Collectorate and Ambedkar stadium areas since Friday night.

Blaming the district administration for demolishing the temple, BJP leader Sanjay said it was not built on a disputed place. He wanted the authorities to tell the reasons to the public for demolishing the temple and the names of the officials, who passed the instructions for doing so.

The BJP leader demanded the administration to reconstruct the temple at the same place.