Mumbai: Jain community protests demolition of 35-year-old temple in Vile Parle

The protest march against the Vile Parle temple demolition, on Saturday

The Jain community held a protest march on Saturday against the BMC's action of demolishing one of their temples at Vile Parle. The protest started from the temple site and moved to the K East ward in Andheri East.

On April 16, BMC demolished the 1008 Parshvanath Digambar Jain Temple, claiming the land it stood on was reserved as a recreation ground. This led to a public outcry and, on Saturday, thousands of members of the Jain community gathered to march from the temple to Andheri East in protest.

Hetal Gala, former corporator and a member of the Jain community said, "The temple was founded 35 years ago inside the bungalow, which in itself was 90 years old. As per BMC's own law, structures built prior to 1962 should be treated as legal structures. Still, the BMC took action on the morning of April 16, while the case was being heard later in the afternoon." "Also the temple does not infringe on any road alignment," added Gala.

After the members of the Jain community demanded strict action on the BMC officials, assistant municipal commissioner of K East ward Navnath Ghadge was transferred from his post. Civic chief Bhushan Gagrani confirmed the transfer of Ghadge.

Swapnaja Kshirsagar, who is serving as the assistant municipal commissioner in the H East Ward, has been given additional charge of the K East Ward until further notice. The community has, in its protest, also demanded that the temple be rebuilt.

Anil Shah, trustee of the Jain temple, said, "BMC officers did this work wrongfully. The structure was 90 years old, which is tolerable as per the BMC guideline, there was no need to demolish it." Meanwhile sources claim that BMC has agreed to repair the temple.