NEW DELHI: The House of the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution to retain the prefabricated Hanuman temple that had recently come up at Chandni Chowk. An old temple in Chandni Chowk was demolished in January as an “encroachment” under a court order. Nearly a month later, a temporary structure had come up overnight near the site on the median verge of a street, leading a war of words between the AAP and the BJP.
The resolution says that the temple will “remain as it is there” and “instructions are issued to the municipal commissioner to ensure no act of dismantling is done by the civic authorities”. The resolution was supported by the AAP and the Congress, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said.
“We wanted to find a way to resolve this issue amicably, and with a unanimous resolution passed in the House today, we have found that way out. Leader of Opposition from the AAP and leader of Congress, both have signed the resolution,” he said.
“We will be writing to the Delhi government that a resolution had as been passed, and the PWD should not include this temple in its Shahjehanabad Redevelopment Project,” he said. On Tuesday, an all-party meeting of leaders of the NDMC was held to seek consensus before putting a proposal in its House.
The meeting was attended by the mayor, deputy mayor, NDMC standing committee chairman and his deputy, Leader of House Yogesh Verma, Leader of Opposition and AAP member Vikas Goel and Leader of Congress in House Mukesh Goel. Meanwhile, the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) on Saturday had lodged a complaint with the police seeking action on setting up of the prefabricated, steel structure by unknown people.