Denying any role in the overnight demolition of a wall of the 250-year-old Ayyappa Swamy Temple in Upparpet, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has come forward to relocate the temple.
“The property on which this temple stands belongs to the South Western Railway and they had initiated eviction a few years back. Railways claimed that the temple was unauthorised and the temple trust had appealed against this. The court had ordered status quo and so by demolishing the wall of the temple, SWR may have to face contempt of court,” said A S Mahesh, advocate handling the case on behalf of the temple trust.
Residents and shopkeepers were shocked to see a demolished wall of the temple on Tuesday morning. They found a JCB being used by the Metro lurking around in the background. Miffed at the demolition, the temple authorities rushed to meet the MD of the BMRCL N Sivasailam who denied any role in the demolition.
“The BMRCL is not responsible. There are so many construction activities going on in that area and anyone could have demolished the wall. We have agreed to rebuild the temple after our works are complete,” BMRCL’s spokesperson Yashwanth Chavan said.
According to the agreement between the temple trust and Metro authorities signed on Tuesday, the construction of the new temple will begin only after the entire Metro construction in the area is complete.
The temple trust which was unhappy over the demolition, was satisfied with BMRCL’s proposal.