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While Haridwar Mayor Manoj Garg was preparing to get discharged from the CMI hospital in Dehradun, the supporters of Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj demanded ‘immediate dismissal’ of the Haridwar Mayor for the alleged clash between supporters of the Mayor and Maharaj on the issue of encroachment by Maharaj’s ashram on a drain.
The trustees of Prem Nagar ashram owned by Maharaj accused the Mayor of ‘committing criminal trespass at the Prem Nagar ashram’ and also accused him of insulting their religious leader who has a following of lakhs of people.
In a letter written to Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they have requested that action be taken against Manoj Garg.
Some of the eye witnesses opined that the Mayor was exaggerating his head injury to save himself from embarrassment of the repercussions of his “hasty” action.
Speaking to The Pioneer, spokesperson of the Prem Nagar ashram, OP Sharma said that it was ridiculous on the part of Haridwar Mayor and his team of the municipal corporation to throw garbage at the gates of the ashram which also clearly shows the negative bias of the Mayor. It will be recalled that a high voltage drama was enacted on Thursday after a clash between those associated with the ashram and the Mayor and his supporters when the latter tried to remove the encroachment on a drain illegally constructed leading to waterlogging problem in the area.
Sharma further alleged that the questionable act by the municipal corporation had hurt the sentiments of lakhs of devotees of Satpal Maharaj. Following the intervention of Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik, the municipal corporation sanitation workers ended their strike called on Friday and returned to work but they did not pick up garbage which was thrown outside the main gate of the Prem Nagar ashram.
Justifying the reason for not picking up the garbage, the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari of the municipal corporation, Nitin Bhadauria said, “Our team had gone there to collect garbage from the ashram’s gate but the ashram officials prevented us from doing so. We are trying to resolve the matter through dialogue.”
Giving the whole episode a twist and telling the “inside story” of the Mayor’s apparently sudden action, Secretary of Prem Nagar ashram Ramneek Patel said that the order by Mayor came in the wake of refusal by the ashram for hall booking.
“Manoj Garg had called me three days ago for booking a hall in the ashram but we did not have a hall vacant due to the ongoing workshop for dhol-damau artistes organised by the State Culture department. If the mayor had consulted us regarding the waterlogging issue instead of coming with mechanical excavators and other machines to demolish the structure, we would have willingly cooperated with him.”