A rather piquant situation is developing in Aurangabad city in Maharashtra with the municipal corporation issuing a notice to demolish at least 41 structures in the first phase of road widening in the old city, including heritage mosques which are on Wakf property.
Aurangabad Municipal Commissioner Purshottam Bhapkar told The Hindu on the phone that a notice for demolition was issued on January 29 for road widening in the old city and 41 structures were identified, of which at least 20 were temples. In fact after that, the corporation tried to demolish an old mosque in the Gulmandi complex, a designated heritage site, but a protest by 200 youth stopped the bulldozers.
However, three shops on private land did not escape, according to Owais Ahmed, president of the Muslim Numainda Council which has been opposing the development plan (DP) of the city.
The corporation has identified 23 mosques, 39 shrines and mausoleums for demolition, according to the DP that was approved in 2001-2002. Mr. Ahmed said when the demolition squad arrived in Gulmandi area, it targeted the Masjid Karbidalan which was 300 years old. The Council then approached the Wakf Tribunal, which stayed the demolition and said that the status quo must be maintained till further orders. “The whole city resembles the aftermath of an earthquake with everything dug up but till now no religious structure has been touched,” he said.
While the Municipal Commissioner said there were temples too which would be razed, most of these temples were new structures and on the road, he pointed out. In contrast, the mosques were over 100 to 300 years old — some built at the time of Malik Ambar, the founder of Aurangabad city, and on Wakf land. He said the DP was formulated in 1975 and not implemented within 10 years. As per law, a fresh plan should have been prepared.
N.D. Pathan, Chief Executive Officer of the Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs, said the board was not consulted in the preparation of the DP.
Mr. Pathan said some local leaders met the Chief Minister finally who issued instructions 10 days ago not to proceed in this matter. After that the Municipal Commissioner issued a notice to the Wakf Board to give details of the mosques and a reply was submitted. “We even suggested how the roads could be built without disturbing existing mosques,” he said.
However, Samir Rajurkar, a corporator from the Shiv Sena-controlled Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Bombay High Court seeking directions so that the corporation can remove the “encroachments” from the roads and then invite tenders for construction. The matter will be heard on March 7 and in the meanwhile, Mr. Pathan is filing an intervention application on Monday.
On tenterhooks
The Muslim community is on tenterhooks and fears that the DP will be used to fuel communal unrest for larger political gains. Denying that he was bent on demolishing religious structures, Mr. Bhapkar told The Hindu that the DP was for the Aurangabad Municipality but in 1982, 18 more villages were included in the corporation limits. The DP was sanctioned in 1975 and a revised plan was approved in 2001-02. Since then, its implementation was pending and he decided to take it up seriously since he took over two-and-a-half years ago. The move for road widening began in November last and 30 congested roads in the old city were selected. In the last two months, 15 roads were completed.
“There were protests but I had to take harsh and strong action and face the anger of property owners. In the end, people accepted that this process has to go on,” Mr. Bhapkar said.
According to a survey by the corporation, in the city there are 1,100 religious structures including mosques, dargahs and temples and a committee headed by him was verifying if they were authorised or not.
In the first phase, the committee identified 41 illegal structures on 14 roads. There are a total of 144 heritage structures in the city and he said he was not going to blindly demolish them without due consultation. “There are rumours that all mosques will be demolished but that is untrue. There is not a single mosque fully on the road, but there are parts on the road, some of which have been newly added,” he explained.
However, the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission which investigated the matter after complaints, has taken a tough stand on the issue. In a report to the State government in February, it said the public notice issued by Mr. Bhapkar was illegal and flouted all laws. It warned of a massive law and order problem if the demolition was carried out. The report attacked the corporation for its faulty planning process and said the DP was revised on different occasions without proper consultation with the public or the Wakf Board, which owns the property where the mosques or dargahs were located.
“Mr. Bhapkar has misled the people by quoting a Supreme Court order, which does not apply to ancient structures,” the Commission said. The corporation did not acquire land on which the mosques were located as per the Land Acquisition Act. Mr. Bhapkar was using section 126 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, which he had said was less time-consuming and relied on negotiating a settlement.
The Commission said that the move to demolish structures also went against the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, which stated that a religious character of a place of worship existing on August 15, 1947 shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day.
Six of the structures listed by Mr. Bhapkar for demolition figure on the State government's list of heritage monuments to be conserved, for instance, two mosques in Begumpura, the Champa Masjid, Gulmandi complex and Masjid Karbidalan (which was the target of a failed demolition attempt), Supari Hanuman Mandir, and two other places.
