Thank God, it was a Thursday. Had it been any other day, the bulldozers would have certainly entered into the sprawling Shiridi Sai temple constructed illegally on Government land at Khan Nagar to pull it down.” This was the version of a policeman on duty accompanying the district administration in its ongoing temple demolition drive, which resumed in the city on Thursday after a two-day break.
The policeman refused to admit that the newly-built temple did not come under the bulldozers due to the massive protest the locals have staged for last two days. “Since Thursday is considered auspicious for the Sai devotees, the administration thought it proper to look the other way,” said another policeman on duty indicating that the bulldozers would roll over the temple, built at a cost of Rs 2 crore, on Friday.
Notwithstanding the threats, hundreds of Sai devotees, including women and children, continued to stay put in the temple premises for the third consecutive day on Thursday.
They are making fervent appeals to the district administration to give some more time so that all legal formalities would be carried out to save the shrine from demolition.
On the other hand, the administration on the day targeted the illegal constructions along the National Highway-5 at Madhupatna and brought down as many as five places of religious importance, including the Madhupatna Puja Mandap. At least three temples located there were razed to the ground as the people watched helplessly. Traffic on the NH was paralysed for over an hour as the demolition drive took place using one lane of the NH.
Ever since the demolition drive was launched in the city on May 1 following the Odisha High Court’s orders, the Puja Mandap at Madhupatna became the first casualty. Several Puja Mandaps of the city have come up illegally encroaching upon Government lands and they have all been identified and placed in the list for demolition.