Pune Mirror: Vijay Chauhan: Pune: Sunday, September 02, 2018.
Officials claim religious structures cannot be built in civic amenity spaces; members of Muslim community protest, threaten to refrain from voting in Assembly polls.
For the past 10 years, the fate of a Haj House, for those going for the holy pilgrimage from southwestern Maharashtra, has been hanging in the balance. While land for it was approved at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Memorial in Koregaon Park in 2008, it was scrapped in 2016. Then, new land was approved at Kondhwa in 2017, and a formal inauguration conducted. But now, the project has now been scrapped altogether, in favour of a civic cultural centre for all communities.
Having come to know of this through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, residents of Kondhwa have now written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and guardian minister Girish Bapat in protest. They are also planning to refrain from casting votes in the upcoming Assembly election.
The plan was approved by the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) general body in 2016. But, protests from locals and some Right wing leaders forced authorities to scrap it the same year. Subsequently, another land was finalised in Kondhwa just a month before the civic election in 2017, and a formal inauguration ceremony was conducted by former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Work was to be completed within one year.
Now, authorities have suspended the project, citing administrative and technical reasons, saying that a religious structure cannot be built on civic amenity space. It was also learnt that the home department has not given a green signal and kept the file pending for a year.
Azhar Khan, a city-based activist and founder of the Lokhit Foundation, said, “Despite the inauguration of Haj House on two occasions, we continue to be disappointed. This is cheating the entire community people — a carrot to lure us ahead of the civic election.”
“The KP land was finalised and a tender floated, but it was abruptly scrapped following protests by Right wing groups, including Samasta Hindu Aghadi. Now, the Haj house at Survey No 47 in Kondhwa is also being scrapped despite being supported by local representatives of all communities,” Khan added.
Wajid Khan, another resident, said, “The file was kept pending for no reason. If the authorities were aware about the glitches, why was it approved and inaugurated in the first place? If the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation can reserve a land for Haj House, why can’t PMC, especially when there is a huge number of pilgrims? This is not to be borne, and we will pass a resolution not to cast votes in the Assembly election.”
Local corporator Haji Gafur Pathan added, “The general body approved the proposal, but the rules state that places with religious association cannot be built in amenity spaces. The home department has also not given its nod, which is mandatory. Thus, the civic body is also reluctant to move forward.”
Pathan added, “The land in Kondhwa will now be an all-community civic cultural centre. We are searching for alternative places for the Haj House in Kausar Baug, Cantonment and Hadapsar areas, where private land can be made available.”
Sanjay Shende, executive engineer of PMC’s Bhavan Rachna Vibhag echoed, “A Haj House can be built on private premises only. We brought this issue to the notice of civic body after which the decision to build a Haj House was suspended. Permissions from the home department were also never received.”
According to sources, the Pune police, too, were not in favour of a Haj House in Kondhwa. “Certain anti-social activities were spotted in the area. The Haj House could be used by crime suspects posing as pilgrims,” the source said.
The civic body sanctioned Rs one crore for the Haj House and an additional Rs 3 crore was pledged. The building was to come up on 10,000 sq ft of land and house over 1,500 pilgrims. The objective was to help Muslims in western Maharashtra, who face difficulties in finding accommodation at the Haj House in Mumbai.
.JPG)
.JPG)
