Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Hindu organisations have warned of dire consequences following a notice issued by the Railways to shift the 250-year-old Chamunda Devi Temple from the premises of Raja ki Mandi Railway Station in Agra. The hindu activists have even threatened to commit mass suicide if the railway authorities proceed with the move.
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Anand Swaroop had issued a notice to the temple authorities to shift the structure from the railway station on April 20.
The notice claimed that the temple had to be shifted considering the troubles passengers were being forced to undergo. If the temple is not removed, the railways will have to shift the platform, it was said.
Similar notices had been issued to a nearby mosque and a dargah as part of an anti-encroachment drive.
Opposing the notice issued to the temple administration, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal activists put up a huge protest at the office of the DRM for the Agra division of North Central Railway on Friday. They claimed that theirs was a 300-year-old temple, which would not be shifted at any cost.
According to temple priest Mahant Virendra Anand, he had been taking care of the temple since his childhood and his forefathers had also served there.
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Prashasti Srivastava, the divisional commercial manager and public relations officer for the Agra division of the North Central Railways, said the encroachments were being removed in compliance with the Supreme Court order.
“The notices to the temple, dargah and the mosque have been sent as a part of the anti-encroachment drive in compliance with the SC order. We have also issued a notice to a mosque and a dargah located on the railway land in the premises of the Agra Cantt Railway Station. And they have been given time to present their documents by May 13,” she said.
The Hindu Jagran Manch has had little time for this argument and demanded action against the Divisional Railway Manager, Agra for issuing the notice to the temple management for the removal of the temple.
Meanwhile, the dargah caretaker Tufail also traced its history and his family’s connection with the monument. He claimed that he had been visiting the dargah for the last 25 years.
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“My grandfather came to Agra in the 1920s. Since then, my family has been coming here. Suddenly, the railway started sending us notices. This is unfair and we will fight tooth and nail,” said Tufail.
Railway officials have stuck a notice on the dargah wall for everyone to see. The respondents will go to railway court on May 13 for the hearing.
