High-level committee to take action against illegal religious structures in city

The committee will take action against illegal structures irrespective of their religious affiliation and submit a compliance report every three months

Mumbai: The state government will appoint a high-level committee under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner to remove illegal religious structures in Mumbai, industries minister Uday Samant told the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

Uday Samant (HT Photo)

The committee – which will include the BMC commissioner, police commissioner and collectors of Mumbai and Mumbai suburban districts – will take action against illegal structures irrespective of their religious affiliation and submit a compliance report to the government every three months, Samant informed the assembly.

The minister was responding to a calling attention motion moved by BJP legislator Yogesh Sagar, who enlisted seven illegal structures in the city, including five religious structures, belonging to a particular community, and demanded action against them.

Amin Patel and Jyoti Gaikwad from the Congress and Rais Shaikh from the Samajwadi Party raised strong objections against targeting religious structures of a particular community and demanded that local elected representatives be taken into confidence while undertaking any such exercise.

Shaikh said the Bombay high court had heard the matter pertaining to illegal religious structures in the city and prepared a timetable for sequence-wise action against them. No particular religion should be targeted in such an exercise, he said. Patel said illegal religious structures should be treated leniently as they pertained to people’s faith.

In response, Samant said the high-level committee would take local MLAs into confidence and assured that the government would not target structures of any particular community.

“The committee will take care that while taking action, sentiments are not hurt. Temples, mosques, churches will all be treated with the same legal yardstick when it comes to punitive action,” he said.

‘No liquor ban in Kharghar’

BJP MLA from Panvel, Prashant Thakur, on Tuesday demanded a liquor ban in Kharghar, saying the Kharghar gram panchayat had in 2007 passed a resolution endorsing such a ban. Similar resolutions were passed by the Panvel Municipal Corporation, under which Kharghar was included in 2016, he said.

“Khaghar had no liquor shop or permit room till 2002. But of late, the number of liquor shops has been increasing,” Thakur said in the assembly. “There is rising discontent among people as they want liquor shops banned on the basis of earlier resolutions.”

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who handles excise portfolio, said resolutions passed by the gram panchayat were no longer valid as Kharghar was part of the Panvel Municipal Corporation now.

“As areas urbanise and develop, they are governed as per demands of the population. Star hotels are allowed to operate permit rooms as per demands of consumers. No municipal corporation can pass a resolution to ban liquor shops,” Pawar said.

A ban on liquor shops could be imposed if 25% women voters in a particular ward passed a resolution and 50% women voters voted in its favour.

“In the given situation, liquor shops in Kharghar cannot be banned. But action would be taken if they flout norms,” Pawar said.