A committee made of committees for shrine in Mumbai

The BMC has offered another moratorium on demolition of shrines encroaching roads and footpaths. So community groups have a week to prove the structures’ legality and vintage.

The demolition action-affected shrines and structures belonged to different religious communities. But Christian shrines, mostly crosses, made the most news.

This was because, unlike the shrines put by members of other communities, most crosses have an antiquity that predates the establishment of the city. Most of the small temples that dot footpaths and public spaces are recent.

Community groups said that before the last such action in 2003, the BMC had posted notices in newspapers to inform the public.

This time, the action was swift and without warning. “The demolition drive is shrouded in mystery. Everything has been sudden and arbitrary,” said Godfrey Pimenta of the St John the Baptist Church Save Committee.

The action need not have been seen as arbitrary. In true government fashion, there exists a complex bureaucratic structure to deal with disputed religious structures.

In an affidavit to the Supreme Court in September 2010, the then chief secretary had said that it had created a committee for framing a policy for removal, relocation and regularisation of shrines that encroached on public land.

The committee had recommended that if such structures were obstructions to traffic, they should be removed; decisions on the removal are supposed to be taken on a ‘case to case’ basis; shrines that have antiquity and sentiments associated with them should be relocated. This shifting should happen after consulting the local community, if there is a worry about disturbances if the structure is removed, it said.

To ensure that this process is followed, the committee suggested the setting up of, well, another committee consisting of the civic chief, collector and other government officials.

This committee, which was supposed to be set up in every city, town and village, was supposed to report monthly to yet another state-level committee.

In the aftermath of the demolitions and notices to shrines, community groups are wondering what happened to those promised committees.

With the lack of transparency on the demolition drive, Christian community groups are thinking of filing a PIL in the HC to bring more clarity in the process.